Debut album release for Simon Smerdon, a.k.a Mothboy, The Fears is a monstrously dark album that allows in enough light to cast shadows that are genuinely fascinating. It also helps that Smerdon wisely uses untreated guitar, bass and live drums to give his music an added, authentic edge.

We Don’t Ride With Vampyres sets the tone of the album, a sprawling, nightmarish instrumental. Picture a rain flooded dark alley; what is that moving in the bins? Smerdon teasingly takes you where you don’t want to go. The following X In His Territory is equally absorbing, as live instrumentation merges with programmed beats and primordial electronics to create more murky atmospheres. Second Spin R.I.P. broadens the sound, introducing a strong jazz element; this has an incredible Ronnie Scott ambience - you can almost inhale the thick cigarette smoke hanging in the air. A303 rides on the back of the albums hot streak, another halluciogenic instrumental, where taken substances merge with the bright city lights – you’re there, but not really there - it works on many levels.

Occasionally, Mothboy’s use of live percussion and dark electronica reminds me of the disbanded dark funk outfit Red Snapper, which is no bad comparison. Spiders is another beauty, which begins with big beats and cyber rhythms, before breaking down into the world of film soundtrack, as one-fingered low-end synth keys produce gravely serious stacked layers. Smerdon continues to challenge on Folk, introducing a jittery tribal rhythm, overlayed with heavily reverbed plucked banjo. Sounds freakish, but when you’re genuinely unafraid to experiment, risks usually pay off.

The only track on The Fears I’m not too enamoured with is All The Wrong Places, an unbalancing rap track that takes too much of a leftfield jump and distracted me. That was unnecessary, and it takes a while to get the disappointment out of your system before we’re dragged back into another sleazy jazz club effort, on the saxaphone-ridden Rewind, Erase & Replace. The Fears never really recovers its focus from this point onwards, despite closing with the the sludgy, urban sprawl of Becoming Solar, the short, nightmarish Fear Baby Fear, and the lengthiest track on the album, the intoxicating but listless, Shakes.

The Fears is a richly varied slab of dark electronica, beautifully produced and full of richly authentic atmospheres. Despite a slight abhorration towards the end, you shouldn’t be put off buying what is at times a wonderfully visceral debut album, especially if you like your electronica darker than dark.