Filled with infectious, mystifying oddball but at times brilliant grooves across a range of styles – krautrock, funk, Latin, indie, psyche, prog rock, warped pop, contemporary classical and jazz among others, this third LP by New York’s Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington sees an expansion of their eclectic experimentation now joined by drummer and instrument designer Tlacael Esparza. The album is a fascinating fusion of musical sketches, complex shapeshifting and mesmeric momentum. Is it a nihilistic response to the dark times we live in? Perhaps. “Look at the window … it’s hell out there,” sings Nicolás Jaar on Hell Suite (Part 2), the second of two bizarre, twisting nightmarish waltzes. But there’s plenty of fun to be explored in this rich musical mine. S.N.C. has a fabulous Stevie Wonder-feel Superstition groove. Opener SLAU is a strange, cosmic jazz Out of a dark labyrinth of ambience, Are You Tired? (Keep On Singing) morphs in a cheerful clip-clop of catchiness amid chops of angular guitar. Graucha Max has a fabulous Tom Waits-like grumble and pacy, proggy flute-filled energy, while American References hits a Latin phase, with the lyrics “Si no funciona, no me diga que funciona” (“If it’s not working, don’t tell me that it’s working”). Unfathomably mesmerising, endlessly explorative, moving and evolving through joyous, improvisations and repetitions. Out on Matador Records.
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