It is both a blessing and a curse that Little Dragon have become so popular since their debut arrived a decade ago. A blessing in the sense that they have been invited to collaborate with some of music’s big hitters (DJ Shadow, Gorillaz, Outkast’s Big Boi), but also a curse when it comes to their own material.
The issue is fairly simple: the music scene is moving along (albeit not in a particularly interesting direction) but Little Dragon seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. It’s not a rut devoid of entertainment, but it’s a rut nonetheless.
When ‘Ritual Union’ dropped in 2011, Little Dragon were riding high. Its predecessor, ‘Machine Dreams’, had received acclaim and ‘Ritual Union’ itself was judged to be rather splendid. Its perfect release date – slap bang in the middle of the summer – was either inspired or a very happy coincidence.
It was a clean, crisp album that made the most of Yukimi Nagano’s soft vocal gymnastics and, despite the best efforts of the rest of the band to keep everything as uniform as an IKEA shelving unit, it had more of an edge compared to what had gone before. And now, sadly it seems, ever since.
‘Season High’ follows on from 2014’s ‘Nabuma Rubberband’, an album that was recorded during the peak of their collaborative powers and reflected this distraction. There was nothing wrong with the record as such, but there wasn’t an awful lot to write home about either. It was vanilla electronica of a sort that pops up again on the new LP.
The comparison has undoubtedly been made somewhere before, but this is the sort of stuff you hear in a high street clothes shop. It’s not quite catchy enough to be used on the main TV ad campaign, but you’ll definitely hear it when you’re trying on that new top you loved the look of.
Little Dragon are fans of mid-’80s pop and soul and this album is proof. Cute little additions here and there (computer game music appears to be high on the priority list) add a little something, but it’s not quite enough to generate that frisson of excitement that was felt when you first heard ‘Ritual Union’ or even their debut.
It’s such a difficult album to rate, because the songs aren’t bad. It just seems that they have the potential to be so much better given past evidence. Nagano’s vocals are no longer entirely effortless – she now seems to be attempting to inject a little something into the flatter numbers - but most of the time they remain exactly that.
The over-long Butterflies and career low-point Don’t Cry are stinkers - totally D.O.A - and there is nothing she can do to save them. On the other hand, lead track Sweet and Push (a strange nod to early 2000s Eurodisco) have been handled with care and therefore push up the average a little. Which kind of sums up the album as a whole: sweet but middling.
Little Dragon Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri October 27 2017 - LONDON Roundhouse
Sat October 28 2017 - LONDON Roundhouse
Click here to compare & buy Little Dragon Tickets at Stereoboard.com.
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
