Otherwise known as Jacob Rudin, NTHNL is a unclassifiable electronic (ish) project that spans a multitude. For starters, Rudin plays a solid jazz flute, and pieces of these songs might slide easily into a smooth jazz playlist. But there's far too much (or, conversely, far too little) going on here for the average happy jazz aficionado.

NTHNL What Kind of World Is This? (Youngbloods)

Like the fact that largely this is not a happy album. It is shades darker than the last NTHNL album, and a lot of that comes from the way he mixes his orchestrations (all instruments played Rudin, of course). There's something of an idea of a voyage through evil, but that darkness is more apparition than real threat.

Nonetheless, the ideas here are worth wandering down. The music is intimate and involving, with plenty of glancing around the corner. Just when you think you have a handle on what's going on, the ground shifts in another direction.

Never trust the ground beneath your feet. I think that may be one of the messages here. In any case, the worlds created within these songs lend themselves to introspection and contemplation. Whether you find horror or wonder is up to you, but there are miles and miles to explore. Dive in.

Jon Worley