Khruangbin has always been multilingual, weaving far-flung musical languages like East Asian surf-rock, Persian funk, and Jamaican dub into mellifluous harmony. But on its third album, it’s finally speaking out loud. Mordechai features vocals prominently on nearly every song, a first for the mostly instrumental band. It’s a shift that rewards the risk, reorienting Khruangbin’s transportive sound toward a new sense of emotional directness, without losing the spirit of nomadic wandering that’s always defined it.
Musically, the band’s ever-restless ear saw it pulling reference points from Pakistan, Korea, and West Africa, incorporating strains of Indian chanting boxes and Congolese syncopated guitar. But more than anything, the album became a celebration of Houston, the eclectic city that had nurtured them, and a cultural nexus where you can check out country and zydeco, trap rap, or avant-garde opera on any given night. The Roy Ayers funk of opener 'First Class' created a lush bed for the band to stretch out on, singing wryly about popping champagne while jet-setting all over the world. But in the end, those brags are revealed to be a shoutout to the home that made all this possible, a love that’s evident in its hands-in-the-air refrain of 'H-Town'.
Tune in to PBS all this week for your chance to win a copy of Mordechai (members only). Not a member? Join up today!
TOP TRACK'S WE'RE LOVING
SAULT - 'Stop Dem'
Paul Kelly & Paul Grabowsky - 'If I Could Start Today Again'
Stirrup+6 - 'Insen for Yonsei'
A.Swayze & the Ghosts – 'Cancer'
Simona Castricum - 'The Good in You'
Songhoy Blues - 'Worry'
Firetail - 'So Skinny (feat Emily Bennett)'
Barney McAll - 'Precious Energy (Mike Gurrieri Remix)'
Miles Brown - 'Speaking in Tongues'