Little Dragon Continue Their Synth-Pop Saga With New Album ‘Season High’

Jordan Bailey

Known for their clever use of electronics, Swedish synth-pop band Little Dragon have just released their latest studio album “Season High” to an eager electro-loving American audience. Coming in at a modest ten tracks, their fifth studio project still manages to pack in plenty of feels.

Little Dragon’s darling lead-singer Yukimi Nagano is always backed by three of the most Swedish guys one could ever imagine who methodically and expertly play keyboards, drums and bass. “Season High” systematically glides through various electronic moods from the perpetually upbeat to the minimal and slow-churning. The pre-release single is “Sweet,” a dance-pop track at its finest featuring Japanese-esque synth sounds as Nagano’s honeyed vocals describe a “sugar rush.” The video for “Sweet” says all you need to know about this group, in that it’s innovative and straight-up eccentric. “Celebrate” is another dance-heavy track which also features a riff that very well could be described as Japanese-toned. The 80’s are alive and well here with wide sounding drum smacks and vocoder voice effects topped off with a very Prince-like guitar solo.

As previously stated, this album describes, as the kids say these days, ‘all the feels.’ “Should I” provides an experimental beat plateauing on a nice head-bobbing groove towards the end; “The Pop Life” follows a bit of an EDM song-structure but veers nicely into a something, well, much better; “Don’t Cry” is reminiscent of popular alt-R&B acts like Banks and FKA Twigs; and the last track, “Gravity”, flows through over seven minutes of brooding experimental sounds amidst Nagano’s delicate vocals.

Given that these Swedes have been producing albums for nearly a decade, they’ve managed to stay relevant not only through their inventive records but their impressive collaborations. Having built professional relationships with the raddest of DJs, producers and bands like De La Soul (“Drawn”), Flume (“Take a Chance”), Big Boi and Killer Mike (“Thom Pettie”) and Odesza (“Light”), Little Dragon have created for themselves a completely new sect of fans through these modern day heavy-hitters. Though even with this new-found acceptance, Nagano has made it clear in interviews that they don’t want to become known as the band that strictly does collaborations. This notion becomes clear when perusing their latest album which features zero outside influences. This album is all Little Dragon, take it or leave it.  

“Season High” is available on Apple Music April 14.