Over the past year or two, Claude McCan has been busy. In addition to releasing several singles and an album under his Claude9 moniker, he’s also gigged with Bowie tribute Supercreeps, and also worked with lounge act 35mm.

Seemingly a man who never rests, he’s now back with Xanimal, a band that blends synth elements, ambient dance sounds and a pinch of a dreampop aesthetic to create something with a huge 90s vibe.

The current Xanimal single, ‘The Awakening’, feels like a great extension of the Claude9 universe, while also retaining its own identity. A blanket of synths creates a great sound from the outset, and coupled with a strong vocal from Nagavelli, it appears to blend the disparate worlds of ambient synth and world music. Introducing a steady programmed beat, the track quickly twists into a piece of 90s imbibed dance pop, where a dub-ish bass and tabla bring a Jah Wobble-ish edge, and a clean vocal captures more than a hint of peak Saint Etienne.

Xanimal still manage to blend these influences into something that sounds really big – and this track even has a hint of early 90s Madonna works during the middle eight – but more impressively, everything sounds great in its own right, outgrowing its many influences. Quite often, this style of light dance/electronica is chiefly about setting a mood in place, but the presence of a pop tinged chorus here ensures that ‘The Awakening’ is just as hooky as it is rhythmic and atmospheric. Given the right time and place, this is a superb listen.