Meet the mesmerizing voice behind Gorillaz's 'Empire Ants' on Plastic Beach.
Actually, its not the work of a single singer named Little Dragon, but a Swedish electro R&B quartet's.
If you aren't too familiar with Little Dragon, thats ok. Their self-titled debut album became a cult classic do to it's notes of jazzy electro, soul driven piano, and low-key hip hop. Now with Machine Dreams they have taken a slight turn for a more dream induced electro feel, that at times can get droning, but is still lovely.
Opening the album is 'A New', which starts with the droning feel that opens and ends the album. With synth sounds galore, Yukimi Nagano's smoky voice elevates the tune into a more sultry level. 'Looking Glass' then follows with an 80's dance-y beat that sounds like its coming from plastic pipes, and features Nagano's dazzling cooing. 'My Step' opens with a casio beat that is reduced to a very simple and minimal sound, but by the time the chorus comes around, it makes you just want to sway and get lost in Nagano's melody. This is the song that will make you realize that although you might not be thoroughly familiar with Little Dragon, you know you've heard them before. As the album progresses, they stick with the same blurry aesthetic while injecting small amounts of different elements from futuristic dimensions, but they aren't interesting enough to make them outstanding.
While Machine Dreams was meant to be a dance album, I think it will a take various remixes to consider it that. To me, this album is more of a sweet dream machine.
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