Steven Jess Borth II takes his brand of modern soul music to the next level.

As CHLLNGR (pronounced “challenger”), the Sacramento-born, Copenhagen-based artist explores pop and R&B songwriting through the lens of dub-influenced electronic minimalism; his latest work is the fullest expression of that approach. “When I started the writing process of Form of Release I knew that I wanted to make something that a broader scope of people could understand, as opposed to my first offering Haven,” he writes.

“Haven was really one of my first explorations of purely electronic music and with that album I felt like I wanted to see how far I could go with sounds in general using a bit more of my nerdy side. There are a few vocal collaborations there but my main focus was trying to make an interesting tune using my 10-year-old micro-Korg synth, some drum samples, a 70’s spring reverb unit and my MBOX 2.”

His new album, Form of Release, is a step forward from 2011’s Haven, due in large part to how it was produced. “When I was offered to use Red Bull’s studio out here in Copenhagen I got quite excited because I knew that I would be able to really dissect and reform the demos that were created at my apartment prior to the session.”

The album also relies on a host of collaborations, including Baltimore’s Blaqstarr and Skin Town vocalist Grace Hall. “I was very fortunate to work with some amazing talent. JOSIAHWISE IS THE SERPENTWITHFEET wrote and recorded 5 songs from the album here with me and DELS also visited the studio to record ‘First Time’ as well as Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild from When Saints Go Machine/Cancer on ‘Fall’. Doctor Echo — who is a key factor in the CHLLNGR project in general — was able to fly out and engineer, co-produce and mix the whole thing with me which was crucial to the way the album ended up sounding.”

Form of Release is due out on October 27 via LA label Time No Place and will be distributed by Kompakt. Until then, you can stream it below.