Chelonis R. Jones Chatterton

• Words: David Hemingway
• Label: Systematic
• XLR8R Rating: 8/10

Seemingly naming his sophomore album after an English poet who poisoned himself with arsenic at the age of 17 and was only posthumously acknowledged as a genius, Chelonis R. Jones makes it explicit that he owns the creative end of the electro-house spectrum. With Chatterton, Jones relocates from Get Physical to Marc Romboy’s Systematic imprint but nevertheless resists neatness and functionality in favor of deliberate artiness. There are a couple of tracks here (“The Cockpit,” “Underdog Anomaly”) where Jones’ musical succinctness is reminiscent of Joy Division, but for the most part Chelonis reminds only of Chelonis. The lack of his own naïve visual art on the sleeve is a shame, though.