Chaos In The CBD released their breakthrough 2015 EP, ‘Midnight in Peckham’, during a revitalisation of underground club culture in London. A decade on, it still clearly evokes the shifting sands of this period, much of it centred on the eponymous neighbourhood. Its fusion of broken beat, house and smoky jazz samples collapsed the distance between club music, live performance and home listening, in step with a broader re-orientation of taste.

At the time, DJs were turning to obscure jazz, soul and disco pressings to pack out fluid sets, while in the southeast of the city a burgeoning group of young musicians were doing the inverse – drawing on the dancefloor for an exhilarating, hybrid take on jazz. Embracing these twin strands, labels and promoters threw community-focused parties in pool clubs, churches, and former factories. Rhythm Section, one such label, would release ‘Midnight in Peckham’ amidst all this, encapsulating the period and launching the Kiwi brothers of Chaos In The CBD to the centre of the city’s dance scene.

Yet despite making such a profound mark on London, Louis and Ben Helliker-Hales have ‘never stopped feeling at one’ with the slower pace of their homeland. Ten years further on ‘A Deeper Life’, their debut album, is dedicated to their idyllic upbringing in Aotearoa and the hazy memories of youth. As with early releases, it marries live instrumentation with lush production, but draws more heavily from the balmy trappings of bossa nova, Afro-Cuban and Balearic.

At its strongest it’s rolling but rousing – confident grooves to lock into with enough detail to maintain anticipation. Love Language is sleek and glassy, with Nathan Haines’ saxophone and piano in perfect, piquant interplay throughout. More Time, featuring Lee Pearson Jr., switches into broken beat and Hammond stabs, raising the energy significantly without feeling forced or abrupt. And despite clocking in at a chunky eight minutes, the serene, cruising downtempo of the title track (which features Isaac Aesili) fully earns its length.

The flipside of an album predicated so heavily on nostalgia however, is a sense of manufactured relaxation, meaning often ‘A Deeper Life’ struggles to animate much beyond moods and vibes. For all the features and the sumptuous, polished production, too much sounds destined for ‘afternoon chill’ playlists, wafting through busy coffee shops and small-plates restaurants.

A few excursions into different genres land unsteadily, like the baggy, saucer-eyed Barefoot on the Tarmac. This is a shame, because ambient bookends Down in the Cove and The Eternal Checkout are solid proof the duo can command styles outside of their wheelhouse. There’s no doubting the sincerity behind the concept, nor the capability. But, paradoxically, the unobtrusive, ‘lean-back’ material bulking out their self-released album connects a lot less with the real world than their excellent back catalogue does with their adopted home of London.