In 2021, Jona Jefferies hooked up with Barcelona’s Apersonal Music, and featured on an 12 that also included music from Andres Vegas, Rai Gota, Ron Barnea and Trujillo. Jona’s contribution, Es Camp, for me, was the standout. A loose swirl of synths and echoed percussion, that seemed to pay tribute to classics such as Sabres Of Paradise’s Smokebelch and The Grid’s Floatation, that tune now heads up Jona’s solo 6-track E.P., Lost In Paradise. Max Essa adds a couple of “Romantic” remixes that blend mid-tempo breaks with a pitched down house bass-line. Coming up with some cool coastal drive gear. The sort of stuff that Dream Chimney and The Beat Broker excel in. The OG’s piano is now in duet with a suitably plaintive guitar, and the end result is an epic of elegant electronics. California Sunrise… Do You Remember? is an ambient synthscape, while the title track itself takes off in totally the opposite direction, with timbales and a pounding 4 / 4. Screeching species make tropical jungle noises and keys arrive in the shape of jazzy, Italian “Paradise” chords (copyright Don Carlos). Currently based in Leeds, it sounds like Jona may well have been listening to local crew, Clandestino, and the productions of members Joe “Shades Of Sound” Morris and Nick “Lone Saxon” Smith. His dread, stepping bass, perhaps copped from a Chapeltown blues. On Eddie C’s makeover there are whistles and scratchy snatches of afro-flavoured rhythmic axe riffs, plus a funky fresh synth solo. However, he still manages to calm the busy a down bit, while swapping those wildly tonked timbales for a fluid flurry of congas and coconut shells.

Jona Jefferies’s Lost In Paradise can be ordered directly from Apersonal Music.