A real winner here with this Johnny Cosmic produced debut album from Jamaican singer and actor Hector Roots Lewis; many will know him for his portrayal of drummer Carlton “Carly” Barrett in the Bob Marley biopic One Love and that role has certainly made its mark on this generally mellow roots reggae album. Also relevant to this set is the fact that he is the son of the great reggae singer, Barbara Jones.

Hector has a fine, light voice for his material, working to his strengths – this is mostly conscious reggae but with a feel-good vibe much of the time, as on the opener, Peace Of Mind. In one or two places, his songs remind me of vintage Aswad in their overall feel and sound, at other times Horace Andy with a slight R’n’B tinge – only to his vocals, this is reggae all the way – and maybe Dennis Brown is in there too. But please don’t get the impression that this is revival music, this is certainly a contemporary sound with a strong, positive message – try Dangerous with Busy Signal and The Movement.

Hector is a committed Rastafarian, as he tells us directly on the wonderfully arranged Strength and Dangerous. A real stand-out on a very strong set is Battle Cry with Ka$e adding his distinctive vocals to a very memorable song, performance and arrangement, but all the songs here are wonderful performances and quite different from each other. At the moment my favourite is the lover’s sounding Fire (J. Boog guests too) but it does change as I listen; all are more than well worth hearing on this very, very listenable debut album.