Armon-Jones is a busy man. With a sprawling catalogue of solo releases and collaborations – mostly released on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood imprint – he’s developed a reputation for virtuosic keyboard playing and pristine production, both elements that ground ‘Archetype’. He connects again with his old flatmate Maxwell Owin, a DJ and producer who Armon-Jones first collaborated with on 2017’s ‘Idiom’. At that point both artists were still figuring out how to work together, more intrigued by the outcome of the project than the process. This time around they took their time, assembling tracks that reflect their interaction with the wider London underground scene and bringing in lively performances from a cadre of their friends and inspirations.

Vocalist O the ghost appears on the title track, rhyming over Armon-Jones and Owin’s dark 2-step backdrop that sounds like a future-facing approximation of El-B’s slippery early productions. ‘4Seasons’ opens up the record to Croydon MC Rocks FOE, whose characteristic wordplay dances fluidly between Owin and Armon-Jones’ jazzy, keyboard-led drill instrumental. The duo slip into a sensual soul mode on ‘Don’t Tip Me Over’, referencing the ’90s canon of Brandy, Amerie and Aaliyah with an ecstatic vocal turn from London mainstay Fatima, and they melt dubstep with spiritual jazz on ‘Ikigai’, pulling in assistance from DMZ’s Mala, harpist Marysia Osu and flautist YUIS. And Owin and Armon-Jones’ more restrained productions are just as inviting: ‘Pedal Bike’ is a glimmering neo-jazz marvel, and ‘Do I Keep Going?’ treats drill to some Burial-inspired glassy nostalgia.