Ritual Union [CD]

I first heard of this band from their collaboration with the Gorillaz on the album 'Plastic Beach'. The I discovered the moving video for 'Twice' on Youtube and I thought 'I have to hear more from this group'.

I only just learned today that this album is their 3rd, listening to it and the album simply called 'Little Dragon' I'd assumed that Ritual Union was an earlier album because it is more minimalist, maybe a tiny bit more experimental. Its good to know that they're looking to make their sound even more avante guarde and not just try to please a larger mainstream audience.

The band's sound is mainly due to the understated and husky lyrics of Yukimi Nagano. The album uses a variety of beats and melodies and there's only as many instruments as are necessary, nevermore. Songs like 'Summertearz' are striking due to a beat which is reminiscent of some 'world' music from South Africa. All in all the album has a haunting quality and a sad tone but the music is beautiful. Well worth a listen.

Having sounded like a stuck record recommending the wonders of Sweden's Radio Dept, a move across the country from that bands home in Lund in the extreme south to Gothenburg on the West coast is now order. Here we find located the equally wonderful "Little Dragon" comprising the intriguing and forthright Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion) plus fellow band members Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Källgren Wallin (bass), and Rashik Aryal (keyboards). Like Radio Dept this band specialise in creating bold electronic landscapes but probably owe a greater debt to the pop sensibilities of Blondie and Prince than the shoe gaze preoccupation's of the former. This is unsurprising not least with the enchanting vocals of Nagana who can sound like Prince, Bjork and a myriad of other artists. Listen to the title track "Ritual Union" with is sparkling electronic rush and you quickly release that it could have appeared on "Graffiti bridge" and by doing so increased the quality of that album tenfold. When she rather cheekily asks in the song "If you want him, girl, could you share?/Cuz that's the deal now, if you dare" you sense that she is not going to take "no" for an answer. The pounding "Cystalfilm" is fundamentally great pop music with a dance floor ethic. Its that sort of track that heads down your musical burrow like an old stoat and refuses to leave. Its effortlessly cool and destined to be mixed by a thousand aspring producers.

Throughout the electronic backdrop is never intrusive and as with the considerable restraint shown in the new Wild Beasts album many songs build slowly but surely with careful layer upon layers of sound, controlled to perfection without a note out of place. On one of the albums standout tracks "Please turn" a ticking almost Kraftwerk style opening mutates into a sinister yet erotic dance track with Nagana's yearning vocals at the core. Indeed we are probably watching a star being born in a insteller burst in front of our eyes and many of you will have already heard her voice playing a key part on Gorillaz "Plastic Beach LP (Damon Albarn knows a good thing when he hears it). The weird noises in the backdrop of "Brush the heat" should not distract from what is a brilliant minimalist electronic funk track which Fever Ray would give her right arm to have penned. Granted on "Little Man" the frothy side of the band comes to the fore but it is very catchy and you suspect could be huge hit. The band are careful to vary their plays, thus on the albums two concluding tracks we have firstly the shimmering beats of "When I go out" which would equally be at home on a Panthu du Prince album while "Seconds" is a quirky ambient instrumental which sadly ends the album on a bit of damp squib. This misstep is subject to very able redress with the bell like clinical funk workout of the excellent "Summertearz" and most of all the rolling noise synth fest that is "Precious" which reminds me of the great Lewis Taylor (yes its that good) plus "Nightlight" which Prince should be drip fed to regain his muse.

Overall "Ritual Union" is smart pop music with a first class honours degree, it is every bit the equal of that other attention grabbing 2011 album of Swedish electro pop funk namely Lykke Li's polished diamond "Wounded Rhymes". Why Sweden has come to such predominance with its many and varied bands of supreme quality in recent years requires a PhD level inquiry, what is certain is that Little Dragon on "Ritual Union" (their third album in four years) proudly sit in that sterling linage and deserve huge international success. All quite remarkable really.

Taking a simple riff and building through it a dance track that entrances and lingers seems to be what Dubstep has turned into recently. A movement that was easily dismissed before this year is now becoming one of the most interesting and rewarding musical areas in 2011. Little Dragon's third album is no exception to this. Its a poppy type of music that is akin to dubstep, RnB and Pop. They sound quite unique really and whilst this amalgam might be messy in someone elses hands Little Dragon make it work. Where this really works though is with Yukimi Nagano's vocals. She has a voice that suits the music on offer here and really hooks the listener in.

The structures of tracks here are around riffs that are repeated throughout and added to during the track. Little Man has a simple riff, percussion and keyboards combine to create a great linger tune. The immediacy of the title track is obvious - it is instantly memorable and works fantastically. However, that's not always true of the rest of the album. Tracks like Please Turn and Nightlight are growers and really work on repeated listens. Don't get me wrong they hang around the head after first listen but its on repeated plays they grow to be the great tracks they are.

This isn't to everyone's taste. It lacks the bombast and danceability that some may want. But in its understated way this album will grow on you and become one of 2011 better efforts.