Intimate and relaxed: Khruangbin with a new album

With rippling water, singing birds and understated composition, the new record by the US trio Khruangbin takes you into distant worlds of sound. “A la Sala” is the name of the band’s fourth studio album, which translated from Spanish means “into the room”. Because with the album, which will be released on Friday, the band wants to go back to their roots and appears calm and intimate like rarely before.

Khruangbin (Thai for aircraft) describes itself as a collage of global subgenres such as reggae-dub, surf rock, Asian funk and Middle Eastern soul. This mix of styles could be heard above all on her album “Mordechai”, released in 2020, which impressed critics with its colorful dance music. The twelve songs on the new record now sound different. They are more reminiscent of the rock and jazz side of the band.

Also read:

Pineway show their tougher side in the Rockhal

Reminder of who they are inside

In addition to slow and reduced instrumental pieces such as “Farolim de Felgueiras” or “Caja de la Sala”, there are also memorable melodies and vocal highlights. In the second song on the album, “May Ninth,” you are transported to a dreamy spring day with a gentle voice.

According to the label, with the album Khruangbin wants to remember who they are on the inside. “Themes include family, returning home to oneself, intimacy, surrealism and the fact that home doesn’t always have to be a place,” it said. And you hear that too. When producing the album together, Laura Lee Ochoa (bass/vocals), Donald “DJ” Johnson (drums) and Mark Speer (guitar) experimented with old voice messages that were created on tours or during past productions since their founding in 2010.

Also read:

These are the best summer festivals in Luxembourg

The closing track “Les Petits Gris” provides space to wallow in feelings with melancholic piano chords. This also applies to the album’s artwork. The cover shows a view from a window of the cloud-covered, blue sky. According to the label, on all of the band’s tours, Speer takes a photo out the window during the flight.