Little Dragon — Slugs of Love — Album Review
Alternative | Indie | Electronic
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Aside from their iconic feature on the Gorillaz track “Empire Ants”, I hadn’t really listened to much of Little Dragon at all. And honestly, I don’t know how I managed to go without listening to them properly for this long.
Nevertheless, I was willing to change things up in the year of 2023, and despite me still having a lot to catch up on in the way of music reviews, that still wouldn’t stop me from freeing up the time to give Little Dragon’s newest album a go.
Furthermore, Slugs of Love is the seventh studio album from the Swedish electronic band. And considering that I only had their collaboration with gorillaz to go off of, I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure as to what I could expect. Nevertheless, I was excited.
As I began to venture into the album upon its release, I quickly came to realise that my excitement certainly wasn’t misplaced. I expect that I am slightly less aware than most fans, as to whether this is a common occurrence or not, but I was really impressed with just how masterfully Little Dragon manages to make such a lo-fi sound so danceable at the same time. All the while, the band inject heavy helpings of vibrant atmosphere into this record as well.
This album feels right at home in the summer period in which it was released. With the aforementioned atmosphere just being so gorgeously colourful, it really helps to quickly build up a level of sentimentality that will surely be remembered as the musical year of 2023 begins to dwindle.
And as someone who, as mentioned earlier, only really knew Little Dragon from their featured appearances, it was pleasing to see some talent assist them on this newest album, such as JID on “Stay” (which, oddly enough, worked incredibly well), and of course Blur frontman, and big brain behind Gorillaz Damon Albarn returning the favour on “Glow”.
Features aside, however, Little Dragon show themselves to be a band with both amazing chemistry and brilliant depth, fusing the wide array of musical elements seamlessly to create a truly rich sound, whilst also being subtle enough to make for a chilled listen, whatever the occasion.
In short, Slugs of Love is such a musically fluid album, that it is almost whatever kind of album the listener wants it to be. Which, on a creative standpoint, is a truly remarkable achievement.
With only the smallest handful of tracks feeling marginally repetitive the way I see it, the vast majority of tracks found on Slugs of Love offers at least a few things to the colourful appeal of the album. And while I wish I had more time to get truly lost in the album’s exciting soundscapes, I still found that this album has a sense of enjoyment that grew on me incredibly fast.
I am confident that as the year rolls on, I will find myself wanting to revisit Slugs of Love more often once things calm down, as it offers a level of uniqueness that not many other album this year have done.
Favourite Tracks: Slugs of Love | Lily’s Call | Stay | Tumbling Dice
Least Favourite Track: Gold
Ninja Tune
