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Little Dragon are the latest exports from Sweden, a country that seems to have a stockpile of massively varied and creative acts who they’re releasing in a slow trickle of temptation. Currently, these bands have spanned everything from the famous disco-pop of 70s wonders, ABBA, through the manic raucousness of Love Is All to the laid back strummings of Jose Gonzalez, not to mention the death metal scene that the country harbours. And now Sweden has another genre to add to its rapidly expanding list, but this one is a little harder to pin down, as Little Dragon’s eponymous debut combines a mix of interesting styles.
Album opener, ‘Twice’ breaks you in oh so gently, with a beautiful piano riff overlaid with soulful vocals from Japanese/American vocalist Yukimi Nagano. Never overpowering the simple piano and stunning singing, softly undulating synths take second place in the ethereal introduction to the next 12 tracks. But the roles are swiftly reversed in ‘Turn Left’ as voice follows keyboard note, and so, by the second track, subtle changes create an intriguing desire to continue listening.
Nagano cites hip hop, R’n’B and jazz as her influences, a combination of the 3 shown expertly in ‘After The Rain’, half way through. The electronics are still there, but merged into a jazz-inspired drum brush beat and walking bassline. Next track, ‘Place To Belong’ really draws out the R’n’B beats and probably wouldn’t be out of place as any mainstream act’s B-side. But that is unfortunately one of the stumbling blocks of an otherwise sound album: a few of the songs feel like they could only be B-sides and they just don’t seem to draw you in quite enough to stop you reaching for the skip button. In particular, ‘Stormy Weather’, has an overly ponderous, slow riff and gratingly quiet, repetitive vocal line. ‘Wink’ is another slight let-down, as its slow smoochy bass, unnecessary synth accompaniment and suggestive lyrics lower it to the level of any run of the mill R’n’B temptress.
These few disappointments are not enough to completely write off what is really a promising debut, but they clearly show a band who need to refine their sound and work out what they really want to say.
