If there’s nothing else you take away from this review, do yourself a favor. Remember the name Lord Sonny The Unifier. Throw his latest album on, The Escape Plan Handbook. Dig the vibes, feel his flow, and hear his heart pouring, song after song. Then, and only then, can you truly comprehend the magnitude, if not the import, of the opening sentence of this piece.

Sonny, Lord, or maybe just The Unifier, has his routine down cold on this long player that spans a solid 12 cuts, with no fodder anywhere in sight. His bass lines are hard, with the propensity for grooving much like anything found on your favorite rap CD. His keyboards range the gamut from ultra-freaky to sparkling, pristine pianos that have no business sounding that clean on tracks with bass, and certain electric guitar riffs, as grungy as they are.

Best of all, the artist is able to combine these elements, time and time again, to an exceedingly high level of prolificacy.

I doubt there’s anyone who can put an ear to “Ain’t Nobody Listening” and not walking away nodding their head that Sonny’s got a certified hit record on his hand. The tempo moves crisply; the bass is putting in work; the piano brightens things at the right moments, and the vocals—or rather, Sonny’s vocal style, in addition to his songwriting—is what makes this tune, like most of the other efforts on this album, nothing short of memorable.

Many times he sounds like the smooth, laid-back mack with his shades on, that he appears to be in his promo photos (case in point, check for “Listening”). Other times he drops a whisper silky smooth style, as he does on “We Applaud All The Freaks”. Speaking of which, cuts like the foresaid highlight his uncanny candor, as it were, for songwriting. Other tunes include odes such as “High All The Time” (which is adorned with a bass as loaded as the title is), “I Might Have Taken Too Many”, and “Space Rock”, to name a few.

No matter what the subject, tempo, or style (he even kicks something akin to a ballad on “Turn To You”), at some point during the majority of these numbers, you’ll feel like jumping in and singing along with The Unifier.