Ritual Union

The third album from Little Dragon continues and refines their particular musical niche of spotless electro-pop and graceful futurist R’n’B, bold in its musical vision, precise in its construction and exacting in its execution. Carefully programmed synth textures and flawlessly programmed, spotless beats underpin the songs here, from funky sci-fi outing “Nightlight,” the casually epic title track, its simple two-chord/synth bass/skippy two-step-beat construction amounting to way more than the sum of its parts, or “Crystal Film”’s deceptively jaunty The Supremes-Meet-Yazoo vibe. “When I Go Out”’s processed vocals, micro-synths and highly intricate percussion take things in a more inward-looking and experimental direction and Ritual Union is full of similarly inventive production approaches that, along with Yukimi Nagano’s continually alluring vocals of course, add up to another shape-shifting, involving and charming Little Dragon album.