When artists have collaborated together long enough they can find the special unspoken way to enhance the material they create together. When you’ve been working with a select group of people for long enough the boundaries you can push musically and stylistically just continue to grow. Take Little Dragon. The project created by four school friends, Erik Bodin (drums and percussion), Fredrik Wallin (bass), Håkan Wirenstarnd (keyboards) and Yukimi Nagano (vocals), has been ongoing for twenty plus years and on their new and seventh album Slugs Of Love, the Swedish quartet sound like they are just hitting their stride. Entirely self produced at the bands studio in Gothenburg, Slugs Of Love is a confident, exciting and hugely worthy addition to Little Dragon’s, deservedly celebrated, oeuvre.

The group’s deliberate attempt to obscure genre borders hasn’t been as successful as it is here. Blending elements of Indie Pop, RnB and Electronica all held together by Nagana’s effortless sounding, soulful honey dipped vocals and the band’s immaculate instrumentation. The album’s titular single is a playful romp punctuated with a staccato vocal melody that will live in your head for days. Little Dragon has an ability to elegantly groove through their arrangements, creating a musical cohesion, despite fusing many disparate parts, that many bands would be envious of. On “Amoban”, the album’s lead track, we are treated to a Daisy Age reminiscent breakbeat that bops all around Nagana’s delicious vocal performance. The band doesn’t only work well with each other but have an impressive history of collaborators. From artists like Erykah Badu to the xx, Little Dragon has worked with some of the all time greats. Here, on “Glow” a dizzying, nostalgic wash of neo soul, Blur and Gorillaz maestro Damon Albarn treats us to a few verses of the most Albarn-esque wonder we’ve come to expect from the prolific songwriter and producer. It’s a blast.

Little Dragon have been perfecting their craft for a long time now and on Slugs Of Love they’ve seemed to have found their sweet spot. It’s everything you’ve come to expect from the group but with an added level of confidence and excitement than we’ve previously heard before. This album should stand out among most of the Summer releases and it’s well earned for an act that keeps pushing themselves to expand on what our preconceived idea is of who they are. Sit back and slip away with Slugs Of Love. This is one album that will be on repeat till the cold weather comes and more than likely beyond that.

Stream Slugs of Love by Little Dragon HERE