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Songs We Love: Manu Delago, 'A Step (Feat. Pete Josef)'

Manu Delago's new album is titled <em>Metromonk</em>.
Mirko De Nicolo
/
Courtesy of the artist
Manu Delago's new album is titled Metromonk.

Austrian-born U.K. percussionist Manu Delago specializes in the Hang, a cousin of the steel drum that produces soft, muted, subtly shimmering tones. The instrument provides a perfect counterpoint to the gentle production effects of Delago's new third album, Metromonk, on which a sense of haunted, worldly mystery never gets in the way of approachability and warmth.

Delago has contributed to works by a broad range of musicians, from Anoushka Shankar to The London Symphony Orchestra to, most notably, Björk. But Metromonk asserts his own skill as a composer and bandleader from its opening seconds: In "A Step," the otherworldly reverberations of Delago's Hang are joined quickly by a gorgeous guest vocal from Pete Josef, a U.K. soul singer worth discovering in his own right.

At times, "A Step" feels spare enough to float away like a fine mist. But every simple ingredient bears weight and serves a purpose, making the song the kind of subtle sleeper that burrows into the subconscious as it settles the nerves.

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Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)