Cepia

As genre tags go, “electronica” couldn’t be less specific, to the extent that it pretty much serves as a catchall for anything with beats that clearly isn’t house, techno, trance, dubstep, etc. As genres go, it’s one of few in electronic music to often attract practitioners adept at playing physical (read: “real”) instruments. So it was with Huntley Miller. By the time the St. Paul native traded his bass rig for a Mac in ’02, he’d already studied with jazz great Anthony Cox, played in a rock band or two, and put in years of distinguished service with local live drum ’n’ bass innovators Suki Takahashi and Poor Line Condition.

Thanks in part to background, and part to natural inclination, he’s always insisted on putting a lot of music in his music. Starting with his first release as Cepia—2004’s Dowry EP—Miller’s consistently made a point of front-loading his elegant chamber funk with way more melody and harmony than many ostensibly kindred spirits would ever consider, without sacrificing anything in the way of textural or rhythmic richness. This capacity for balance makes him a natural for distance collaborations: Cepia’s first brace of remixes found a home on 2006’s Atlantic Blood. A high-profile New York show and a spate of TV-friendly tracks have since enhanced his profile, leading to an invite from remix glutton M.I.A. and an understated treatment of Maya’s “XXXO.”

Though more inclined to bang a bit than on 2007’s Natura Morta, Miller brings the same light touch to his second full-length. Even the stuttering break beats on opener “Untitled III” are full of light and air—all the better for accommodating layers of interlocking synth melody. Graced with a central theme that wouldn’t be out of place in a John Legend song, “Ithaca” explores the middle ground between contemporary boudoir funk and instrumental hip-hop—not the album’s only instance of such. It’s this manifest love of pop strategies and song structure (along with an accompanying penchant for brevity—no song on the album passes the four-minute mark) that puts Cepia well ahead of the laptopping pack.