Recently, there’s been a rush of tropical disco and Balearic funk made by new artists who aim to put the spontaneity back into dance music. It’s loose, it feels global in sound, it’s sun-worn and straddling the music of the pharmaceutically inclined, and those happier with an afternoon rave with a glass of Pinot Grigio.

Nu Genea are one of the more famous names in this loose scene, but making one of the albums of the year are Thandii and Regalado with the brilliant ‘Coco Okayo’ which was recorded between Margate and Manila.

In this superb album, you’ll find the decadent echoes of the spacier end of ’70s disco, and the kind of international grooves that call to the Tropicalia of Brazil, Filipino funk, the beat music of the west coast of Africa, angular NYC loft pop, breezy Caribbean jams and UK street soul.

From the off, the gorgeous off-kilterness of each track will almost demand you fire up the big computer and start looking for the kind of sunny climates that might play music like this. The title track is one of the stand-outs for sure, on a record that is absolutely jam packed with gentle dynamite.

This is by no means an exercise in music with all the sharp edges sanded off – there’s still plenty of room for some spiky guitars and wonky basslines to give the whole album plenty of character and bite. That said, even with these ingredients, the music washes over you and into you, feeling hedonistic as well as spiritually nourishing.

Listen to ‘Future Lover’ and ‘My Angel’, and you’ll find an album that’s bursting with life and manages to take all that’s good from great old records, and plant them squarely into 2026, looking forward. If you ever found yourself listening to Cleo Sol and admiring her version of modern R&B and classic soul music, here, you’ll get a similar feeling about music that’s more uptempo with its retro-futurism writ large.

If you’ve been looking out for something to play alongside Sault, Nu Genea, Tom Tom Club, Jungle, ESG, Sade, Marcos Valle, Turkish disco and Habibi Funk records, ‘Coco Okayo’ slots perfectly inside all these things. It’s a spellbinding run of songs, with charming and irresistible rhythms weaving in-and-out of the cosmic soup.

Thandii said in the run-up to this release: “Getting down; dancing as self-soothing. In a post-truth time when it’s hard to tell what’s real it’s about coming to terms with this new reality; making peace with the now.”

And that’s it, isn’t it? Often in times of recession and mean-spirited politics, music provides the escapism and salvation, where just for a moment, we simply dance together and feel the active community of music, and ‘Coco Okayo’ does exactly that in the most exquisite way possible.

Essential listening.