Everything we’ve heard from Little Dragon’s new album Nabuma Rubberband, the Swedish band’s fourth album has sounded like the band at their best. There was the dizzying synth pop of ‘Klapp Klapp’ with its two videos: one of which was an interactive personalised phone call, ‘the mighty ‘Paris’, currently my favourite Little Dragon song of theirs and then the suave slow-down of ‘Let Go’.
The singles are the most upbeat tracks here. Much of the record’s songs are slow jams which were inspired by Yukimi Nagano’s headphone listens to Janet Jackson while walking around her hometown of Gothenberg. So ‘Underbart’ has a clear R&B influence but matches it with a hazy synth electronic feel while the draggy atmospheric ‘Cat Rider’ Yukimi has a very clear close timbre in her singing to Ms. Jackson, which is a style that is all around at the moment in the deluge of electronic R&B around.
Nagano has one of the best voices in music right now, so much so, that it completely embellishes the quietly haunting taut ‘Only One’ and similarly dominates the slow numbers.
Having seen Little Dragon live in the last two years, it was clear they had turned into a formidable sinewy synth-pop beast and Nabuma Rubberband is further proof.
The album is out Friday. Pre-order / download.
Nabuma Rubberband tracklist
- Mirror
- Klapp Klapp
- Pretty Girls
- Underbart
- Cat Rider
- Paris
- Lurad
- Nabuma Rubberband
- Only One
- Killing Me
- Pink Cloud
- Let Go
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
Looks like there’s a ‘Best of’ as well http://open.spotify.com/album/1lhoN3qbSRxfSEm6I2t8cK
Ah nice!