Album Review

Little Dragon – Constant Surprises

• 26th Feb 2008

Well, it was quite surprising to find that Little Dragon are in fact a Swedish four piece whose singer is of Japanese extraction, when they sound like British coffee table chill out with a vocalist who’d be labelled with the Erykah Badu tag at some point.

Taken from last year’s self-titled debut album, Constant Surprises is just over three minutes of the hideous hi hat and bass that brands urban music, but with enough electronic noodlings and soul to wangle it on Jools Holland. Getting straight down to business, only a little vocal layering and the odd sample breaks the monotonous tempo. Thankfully Yukimi Nagano’s voice has no heavy affectations other than a bit of R’n’B flutter, steering clear of the child-woman types (see My Toys Like Me etc.).

B side Scribbled Paper is just as soporific, but with a cool jazz backbone that sounds strangely like Radiohead. Little Dragon are as commercial-friendly as the groovier bits of Röyksopp and safe enough to be Mercury nominees if they were home grown, but still, it’s an odd choice of single off a varied album.