ZiggiIn TransitReview

Born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and Caribbean father, but raised on the small island of St Eustatius in the West Indies before returning to his homeland as a student at the age of 21, Ricardo Ziggi Blijden now finds himself a big fish in the relatively small pond that is the Dutch reggae scene. Blijden’s 2006 debut So Much Reasons featured link-ups with international names like Elephant Man and Turbulence, but featured the sort of crossover appeal that saw a mainstream audience warm to this guitar-toting songwriter, with his sweet voice and rasta-coloured beanie.

New album In Transit should see Ziggi's star rise further, which is to say it walks the line between soulful, Afro-Caribbean pop, hip-hop and a purer, politicised reggae sound that harks back to 70s reggae giants The Wailers. One feels Ziggi is keen to avoid any suggestion he's watering down the music of his fatherland: Cry Murdah hitches the buzzing synths and tapping snare of US hip-hop to a dubby skank, Ziggi narrating the tale of a gangland shooting (and of particular note is the remix, starring dancehall singer Admiral T, available here as a bonus track) while the dramatic Code Red muses on the cycle of bloodshed, bourn up on flourishes of piano. Even at its most red-blooded, though, In Transit feels no less accessible than So Much Reasons, in part due to the smoothness of the production, and in part thanks to a rich seam of social conscience. The likes of When The Youths Cry and Good Over Evil are reflective in their contemplation of violence, salvation and Babylon. Meanwhile, Oh Yeah – an eager strut featuring Jamaican bad gyal Ce'cile – ought to get the blood pumping in a manner rather more familiar to any dancefloor Lothario.