By Jessica Miller
Staff Writer
Someone needs to train Little Dragon in its incorporation of electronic elements, as its newest release, “Nabuma Rubberband,” sorely disappoints.
Although its breathy vocals and instrumentals mesh beautifully, the band’s experimentation with electronic sounds ultimately kills any chance that “Nabuma Rubberband” has at success.
Little Dragon is an eclectic group of five musicians from Sweden. With Erik Bodin on drums, Fredrik Kallgren Wallin on bass, Hakan Wirenstand and Arild Werling on keyboard and vocalist Yukimi Nagano, the band is known for its energetic, R&B-influenced alternative tracks. Graceful sounds and sultry, dark vibes pervade previous works, such as the well-known single “Twice.”
However, the newest addition to the group’s repertoire haphazardly comes together to create a bland mix of tonal elements and tacky beats – a sad digression from the band’s old melodic style.
The only true high points of the album come from the talented Wirenstand and Werling’s keyboard skills. The clever instrumentals provide relief from the cacophony of jumbled electronic sounds. For instance, “Klapp Klapp” is anchored by its piano-based melody. The keyboard trills are light and add a level of organic sound to the album in order to contrast its painfully-predominant electronic tones.
Throughout the album, Nagano’s voice is consistently enchanting. Similar to the band’s previous works, her soothing vocals create a melodic sound, rich, deep and a perfect complement to the lighter accents of the keyboard. Unfortunately, the electronic backgrounds and tonal experimentation tend to drown out the vocals.
The group fails miserably in blending electronic beats with keyboard instrumentals, and all of the tracks end up sounding stale. Beats clash, and nothing ties together quite smoothly. This clumsy compilation is apparent throughout the album, as not only do the sounds fail to blend to make cohesive tracks, but almost every song sounds the same.
Repetitiveness and boredom plague the “Nabuma Rubberband.” The songs “Pretty Girls” and “Cat Rider” are virtually the same track, both being painfully mundane to the point of resembling elevator music.
“Nabuma Rubberband” is unsatisfying, despite its rich vocals and smooth instrumentals, namely because of Little Dragon’s misplaced attempt at modernizing its sound. Despite the modern, stylish aspect of centering an album around electronic beats, “Nabuma Rubberband” is nothing more than an empty collection of unoriginal tracks, which is a sad step down from its previous alternative style.
“Nabuma Rubberband” was released on Tuesday and is available both digitally and in retail for $7.99.
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