Underground pop music legend Jai Paul is back, bitches. With Bait Ones, the iconic British producer has released his first solo piece of music in seven years. Jai Paul is most well known for a series of singles he released on his MySpace page back in the late 2000s, which took the music world by storm. These singles, such as “jasmine,” and “BTSTU,” are beautiful and sensual pieces of electro pop that combine multiple sounds that have not really been mashed up before in a perfect way. Just as soon as Jai Paul rose to stardom, he disappeared, deleting all of his music off of the internet and not putting out any music at all for many years. The only pieces we got from him at all were the leaked Bait Ones in 2012, which is pretty much a way rougher version of the project we just received, and a few songs with his brother under the name AK Paul. Then, out nowhere, last week he dropped two singles, the avant-garde and funky “Do You Love Me Now” and the fuzzy and warm “He.” A day later, he gave us this Bait Ones record, and it is exactly what we would expect from the music genius, and totally worth the wait.

Although it took seven years for Bait Ones to get officially released after the super rough version was leaked seven years ago, Jai Paul still wanted us to know that most of this album was not as completely finished and mastered as he would have preferred. Most of the songs have a label of (unfinished) or (demo) on them. It sounds like a complete album to me, but I guess nothing will truly satisfy the perfectionist that is Jai Paul. “Straight Outta Mumbai” is the only song on the record with no such label, and honestly it may be the best cut on the album. It really gets this project off to a bang. It starts out with an infectious fast paced drum beat, with bells kicking into the percussion very quickly. The riff is smooth and alt rock sounding, kind of like something the band Phoenix would make. Throughout the track their are weird futuristic electric piano sounding samples, and towards the end the faint vocals progressive into a woman’s voice singing a pretty Hindu tune. The next track, “Zion Wolf Theme,” is a slowed electro pop track with a sultry future bass beat. Jai Paul is really in his feelings on this song, with him singing “Can I make you fall in love with me” on the chorus. It is a very somber and laid back song.

The next track I love on this album is “Crush.” This song is so infectious and funky. It sounds like a super futuristic and distorted version of a late 70s new wave funk song. It is actually a cover of a Jennifer Paige song, and Jai totally makes it his own. It is truly great. I really love this song for the hook: “It’s just a little crush, it’s not like I faint every time we touch. And it’s just some little thing, it’s not like everything I do depends on you.” Word Jai Paul. Another great cut from this phenomenal album is “Desert River.” It is a future bass and alt-synth pop fusion, with the bass continually getting louder and more intense throughout. It feels like you are constantly going up, like you are on a roller coaster or something. Jai is pretty confident sounding on this song, singing “I am the eagle of things to come, I am the heart of the burning sun.” Lyrically it reminds me of that one My Morning Jacket song. If you know their music at all I am sure you know which one I am thinking of.

After another one of quite a few minute-ish instrumental interludes, we get “All Night.” This song is very laid back and relaxed, and it has a soul vibe with the signature future bass electronica sound we can expect from Jai Paul. It is definitely very chill and soothing and brings the mood down from the eccentric tone exhibited throughout much of this album. Bait Ones concludes with the aforementioned underground smash “BTSTU.” This song is very bright and positive sounding and I really love it as well. Going with a pretty chill future bass synth pop instrumental, Jai Paul lets the music world he is here to take over, singing “I know I have been gone a long time, I’m back and want what is mine.” Even though a version of this song technically came out seven years ago, this is really a great conclusion to this record. I hope he is serious about being back and does not disappear for another eight years, though. The music world needs you, Jai.

With Bait Ones, the enigma that is Jai Paul did not disappoint in the slightest. The super producer was able to make this record everything we could have wanted and more. His ability to mash up classic sounds with his signature electronica future bass really is unparalleled. The only negative I can think of in regards to this project is the fact that we may not get new music by Jai Paul for like eight years now according to his previous output. This album really was worth the wait though, and is everything we could have expected and more. Listen to it with the Spotify link below!