Since delivering their 1993 mini-opus Big Calm, second-generation trip-hop outfit Morcheeba have taken their hybrid blues/country/hip-hop/soul sound to an increasingly wider audience. Their music has suffered as a consequence, the sass and strut of the early days gradually suffocated by tired production clichés and vapid, big-name collabs (see Charango). The Antidote has none of that. It's a stonking return to form, as the band trade in their sultry singer Skye Edwards for the feistier, grittier Daisy Martey (ex-Noonday Underground), enlist experimental musician Rob Mullinder and create a massive, orotund and ear-catching psychedelic sound by recording everything live. The songs here are by far the best they've made in a decade, with catchy hooks and thoughtful lyricism matching the bright, eager production sound. The awe-inspiring confidence and thinly disguised joie de vivre that kickstarts the album lasts most of the way through too, marking the long-awaited final stage in the band's transmogrification from introspective dance act to kick-ass stadium rock band. --Paul Sullivan