E Luxo So by Labradford (Review)

Labradford’s slow progression from slow guitar rock to ambient electronica has been interesting to experience in the past few years. Their new album E Luxo So is another shuffle sideways into the realm of drifting electronic music. A couple of years ago, Labradford’s album Mi Media Naranja came about the same time as a band member’s side project Pan American. Whilst the Labradford album was the sonic equivalent of an enigmatic texture of the desert (influenced no doubt by Ennio Morricone), Mark Nelson’s Pan American album was infused with electronic rhythms and sounds.

The ideas from both of those albums seem to have melted into one here; the rhythm is provided by the electronic beeps and the textures by a combination of guitars, piano and a string quartet. Of course, it could only be Labradford. The world seems to move at a blindingly fast pace given a regular dose of any of their albums, E Luxo So included, but they’ve moved away from obvious musical devices such as drums and vocals. The songs on this album leave a feeling of occupying the spaces rather than the words. Each unnamed track is slow and purposeful, solid and often quite beautiful.

E Luxo So is released on Kranky records in the US.

This review appears courtesy of Motion. Written by David Thorpe.