Little Dragon: New Me, Same Us
Little Dragon’s postmodern R&B thrives in the shadows of the mainstream: Even if you don’t know them by name, you’ve felt their influence. And with their 2014 LP, Nabuma Rubberband, the Swedish quartet seemed to finally be putting a face to their malleable sound, an organic-electronic hybrid built on the shimmering marble of Yukimi Nagano’s voice. After reaching No. 24 on the Billboard 200 and racking up a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album, they were no longer anyone’s best-kept secret. But that climbing-tothe-top narrative dissolved on the band’s follow-up, 2017’s Season High, which landed at 173 on the same chart, despite streamlined arrangements that ramped up the hooks-per-minute total. Perhaps it’s coincidence, or maybe Little Dragon feel liberated by the pressure lifting, but New Me, Same Us caresses the same sweet-spot of experimentation and soulfulness as their early work. Nagano remains the group’s heartbeat, commanding each song with effortless, melismatic melodies—from the low purr on “Every Rain,” nuzzling up with twinkling synths and tick-tock hihats, to the wordless broken-heart crooning over the juicy bass of “Hold On.” But her bandmates sound totally reinvigorated, backing their star with colorful arrangements (the harplike tones and heavy slap-bass that bloom midway through “Sadness”) and unusual left turns (the ambient post-rock outro of “Another Lover,” the tumbling piano lines that decorate “New Fiction”). “In a life, we live so many times,” Nagano sings on “Hold On.” That’s held true for Little Dragon—and they’re now living their best life.
