Send "Little Dragon " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Sweden's Little Dragon are a band blessed with a distinct and immediately alluring style. Their rhythms are dry and metronomic; their synthesizers either provide a distant ambiance or seem to glow like neon lights that flicker in time with the beat. Frontwoman Yukimi Nagano's phrasing touches on conventions of modern-- particularly British-- iterations of R&B, but errs on the side of aloof understatement. They are essentially an R&B band, but the major elements of their style are skewed enough that while the music seems vaguely familiar, it doesn't sound quite like anyone else.A lot of listeners had their first exposure to Nagano and Little Dragon last year when the group guest starred on two tracks from the Gorillaz's excellent album Plastic Beach. Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn was very clever in his deployment of the band on those cuts, making the shift into a sequence in "Empire Ants" highlighting Nagano's smoky, serene voice and Håkan Wirenstrand's stunning keyboard textures seem like a sudden cut from muddy, dimly lit footage to vibrant, super-saturated color. If one of Albarn's goals in collaborating with the band was to showcase their best qualities, he did an amazing job of it. Ritual Union, the band's third album, does not stray from the sexy, futuristic sound of their previous record, Machine Dreams, or their team-up with Albarn. If anything, they've doubled down on their aesthetic by leaning harder than ever on moody synths, nearly subliminal bass lines and impossibly crisp snare hits. A few of the songs, like the sleek title track and the brisk, funky "Nightlight", rank among the group's finest work. All through the record, Little Dragon are extremely effective in delivering the most attractive elements of their style, resulting in a set of songs that come across like the ideal soundtrack to a night on the town in some exotic sci-fi city....full text |
| Guardian |
| You may be interested to know that Little Dragon once lived in a Gothenburg arts commune called the Seal Colonie and that three of them – drummer Erik Bodin, bassist Fredrik Källgren Wallin and keyboard player Håkan Wirenstrand – have toured Ethiopia and Uganda with a reggae singer called Maddox. Every piece of writing about this Swedish foursome, however, is obliged to begin with the fact that they might well be the most ubiquitous electronic pop outfit that no one has ever heard of....full text |
| Soulculture |
| Swedish electronic and synth-pop band Little Dragon return with their third studio album Ritual Union. Having won us over on their 2007 self-titled debut album with their adept left-field interpretation of contemporary American R&B and Soul music and with such beautiful songs as “Constant Surprises” and “Twice,” Yukimi Nagano and her Little Dragon quartet returned in 2009 with Machine Dreams. A further move to the left and away from the R&B and Soul roots of their debut album, Machine Dreams delved into more experimental, rich and luscious sounding Electro-Pop domain and boasted such exceptional records as “Fortune,” Thunder Love” and my personal favourite Little Dragon song, “Blinking Pigs”. Two years on and it seems the band have kept their fans waiting for long enough – but has our two year wait been well worth it? The album’s title track and opener is quite the captivating start to this 11-track album. Kicking off with [and largely backed by] tingling guitar chords, snare sounds, sharp drum kicks and bouts of electro-goodness, “Ritual Union” provides the ample backdrop for Yukimi’s hauntingly ethereal vocals and compelling lyrics. Add the interjecting dreamy instrumentation and keyboard licks that are sprinkled all over the song and that lush synth-solo in the middle of “Ritual Union,” setting up the listener rather nicely for a thoroughly enjoyable listen to come. “Brush the Heat” is immediately captivating. Once it begins and those glorious backing harmonies hit you after about five seconds, there’s really no turning back. The thumping drum patterns set in soon after, accompanied by a synth-line that roams throughout underneath the layers but also bursts into life at the forefront every now and again. Then Yukimi’s vocals – with a slightly darker and subdued tone than the album’s opener but equally compelling – kick in, taking centre stage with the musical backdrop (the drum patterns have dropped down a notch seemingly to match Yukimi’s subdued tone but the backing harmonies are still just as glorious) obliging to exquisitely wrap itself around Yukimi’s vocals to wonderful effects....full text |
Little Dragon lyrics
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