Drawing variously from grime, house, UK funky, and more, Lil Silva represents the shape-shifting sweep of UK club music in the 21st century. Born TJ Carter in 1991, the Bedford-based producer started making brittle, bass-heavy singles in the late 2000s, fusing the congas of funky with the square-wave blasts of grime on tracks like “Funky Pulse”. His 2010 EP for Night Slugs, Night Skanker, slotted him alongside fellow club experimentalists like Bok Bok and Jam City, but his sound gradually slowed and softened, opening up to dreamier textures and contemplative vocal melodies from peers like Sampha and Little Dragon. But such contrasts are at the heart of his music, he tells Apple Music, citing “the yin-yang of it, the beautiful balance” of dark sounds and uplifting emotions as his guiding creative light.