While Ritual Union is the Swedish quartet's third album, it wasn't until their sophomore album, Machine Dreams, that they became popular amongst indie synth lovers including Gorillaz, David Sytek (TV on the Radio), Big Boi (Outkast), and Raphael Saadiq.
All three albums have shown a steady evolution in sounds. Their debut was conducted mostly by R&B and jazz influences, while in the second release they took a dance electro route. This time around they've taken cues from both combining R&B with the synth-love for a more aggressive and solid sound. The perfect example of this is "When I Go Out" a dreamy jazz-dubstep piece. This sweet marriage of genres comes as ironic since title track questions the point of marriage, which also does a great job of mixing genre.
The production is impeccable and Yukimi Nagano's vocals are on point. Unfortunately the album builds ("Shuffle a Dream") and builds ("Please Turn)" but when you get to the end you notice that it lacks a proper punch. They had this same issue in Machine Dreams. This third time was not the total charm, but it's good for now.
By S. Torres
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