From ft.com on Non-Secure Connection:

With its metronomic beat and striking socially conscious lyrics, Bruce Hornsby’s “The Way it Is” made waves in 1986, establishing the Virginian artist as a serious singer and gifted instrumentalist, its plaintive piano solos revealing his roots in jazz. The song was picked up by hip-hop acts and widely sampled, giving it a long tail; in the meantime, Hornsby plugged away, releasing well-regarded albums, spending a couple of years as a member of The Grateful Dead, and quietly establishing himself as a composer of film “cue” music (scoring for individual scenes) for Spike Lee.

This latter activity has given rise to what, in Hornsby’s terms, is a flurry of activity: two albums in two years. Hornsby considered some of his “cues” as the possible basis for full-length songs, so he worked them up, resulting in last year’s very well-received Absolute Zero.

Non-Secure Connection was created largely through the same process, and the result is an absorbing, striking and thoroughly varied collection. It is not always a comfortable listen. Hornsby is an aficionado of contemporary classical music and that influence is clear in its angular melodies and discords; represented graphically, this music would show wild fluctuations, darting from high to low, spanning an octave in a couple of notes, at times resembling the score to a Hitchcock thriller.

“Cleopatra Drones”, the opening track, has the feel of Scottish reel brought up to date with synths and multitracked vocals. Hornsby’s piano-playing is instantly recognisable from its crunchy triplets, clusters and Keith Jarrett-esque chords.

“Time, The Thief” opens with a promisingly pleasing chord, but soon ventures into semi-abstraction, its lyrics a kind of stream-of-consciousness meditation on time, change, the past and elasticity. By the time we reach “The Rat King”, we are ready for something more conventionally structured and melodic, and this song about American mall culture delivers just that. It’s sad, but beautiful. The title track resembles the recitative of a contemporary opera, or something by early Roxy Music, its lyrics addressing computer hacking.

There is one obvious single here: “My Resolve”, a song about the Sisyphean task of songwriting, recorded as a duet with James Mercer of The Shins. This is the Bruce Hornsby of “The Way it Is”, though even here, in instrumental breaks, violins and guitars and synths trace sharply angular patterns.

There are other guests: singer Jamila Woods and guitarist Vernon Reid, of Living Colour, embellish “Bright Star Cast”, on which Hornsby returns to the civil rights theme that has been a thread through his music: “Moving inexorably, insistently, moving to free.” And there’s an appearance from Leon Russell, whose death four years ago presents no impediment to his contribution to “Anything Can Happen” — a gruff, rolling thing recorded with Hornsby in 1992. “Porn Hour” is a kind of sideways tribute to the pioneers of the internet, whose innovations paved the way for the full-fibre broadband of today.

There’s plenty of emotion in Hornsby’s songs and their lyrics, but there’s a great deal of intellectual processing too. This is smart, stimulating music that engages the brain as well as the heart.