L.A. musician Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, has called his newest album “Until The Quiet Comes” an album for children.
Although it may still be a little too out-there for almost anyone under 16, it’s the most accessible Flying Lotus album to date. Even those unfamiliar with Ellison’s style, a mixture of electronics and jazz, hip-hop and video games, won’t find it hard to listen.
The music washes over you. You can try to pick it apart, separate the layers of jazz from the vocals and so on and so on, but eventually, you’ll find yourself sitting back and letting it sink in. “Until The Quiet Comes,” as a whole, feels a little like falling asleep to a mixed playlist, the songs getting mixed together in your dreams.
The influence of the city on Ellison’s music is undeniable. Beats crash and pound in a cosmic, yet urban rhythm. It’s the sounds of the corner where children rapping run into Chinatown, where big upright basses meet eastern bells.
Fans of bands such as Gang Gang Dance or Prefuse 73 will love the textures and mixes of the sounds spliced with vocals from Ellison’s friends and collaborators, including Thom Yorke of Radiohead and L.A. singers Niki Randa and Laura Darlington. Don’t listen too closely to the lyrics. DMT Song, for example, features Thundercat opening with the lines “I can take you to a world where you can spread your wings and fly away.” Dream-like, child-like, and less important than the music going on around it.
It’s the kind of album that’s best to listen to as a whole. Songs blend into each other and lyrics cross the boundaries of track listings as if they’re a suggestion. It’s not an album set on pumping out hit singles or exploiting the diverse styles of music Ellison is capable of producing in their own pieces.
With 18 songs, the album’s still only about 45 minutes long. Songs are over almost as quickly as you fall into a rhythm, moving you on to the next piece. Three and a half minutes qualifies as a long song on the album, and the longest is still less than five minutes. It’s a great pace, avoiding the trap some electronic albums fall into, going on for over an hour, reducing final tracks to sound like more and more beeps. Flying Lotus avoids that path, keeping it short and sweet.
It’s a great album, though not for everyone. You can’t sing along, you can’t hum it or blast it on a road trip or play it at a club, but if you’re in the mood to let the music take the lead, sit back and watch it work, check out “Until The Quiet Comes.”
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
