MJ Cole notched one of UK garage’s defining anthems with his 1998 single “Sincere”. But Madrugada, released 17 years after his last album, 2003’s Cut to the Chase, is a world away from the bubbly 2-step that made Cole a cornerstone of British dance music. The title translates loosely as “dawn”, but this isn’t the sound of coming home from the club at daybreak: Instead, Cole has traded beats for contemplative piano etudes gently fleshed out with ambient synths and neoclassical strings. What hasn’t changed is his ear for melody; neither has his knack for gracefully delivering substantial emotional payoffs. Songs like “A Visit to Lolita” and “Far Closer” convey vast depths of feeling in the subtlest grace notes; Cole has a soundtrack composer’s instinct for the way that the smallest pause before a chord change can convey widescreen passion. And he has a sound designer’s ear for the fusion of acoustic and electronic textures: The fluttering synths of “Reimagination” sound almost like an amniotic club hit in the making. For now, at least, no beats are necessary; Cole’s vision of a world just before sunup—fragile, hesitant, full of wonder—is complete as is.