Until The Quiet Comes
Electronic pop auteur Flying Lotus (a.k.a. Steven Ellison) displays a new clarity of vision on Until the Quiet Comes as he reins in the scattershot tendencies of 2010’s Cosmogramma in favor of a more unified approach. The composer/producer still offers inspired pastiches of jazz, hip-hop and ambient sounds. But where his earlier work could be intentionally jarring, this album takes the listener on a smoothly-sequenced journey through inner landscapes. Ellison is aided by such notables as Erykah Badu (floating diva-like above the tribal groove of “See Thru to U”), Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (making his dark presence felt in “Electric Candyman”) and the Long Lost’s Laura Darlington (cooing her way through the eerie expanses of “Phantasm”). There’s plenty of sinewy pulsation amidst the billowing electronica, supplied by Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner’s insistent bass lines and Ellison’s jittery programmed beats. From the funkified growl of “The Nightcaller” to the robotic munchkin twitch of “Putty Boy Strut” and the sweet psyche-soul of “DMT Song,” Flying Lotus infuses the album with mystical vibes laced with subversive humor. Unearthly yet inviting, Until the Quiet Comes’ sonic spell is hard to resist.
Following the maximalism of 2010's landmark Cosmogramma, Steven Ellison returns with a comparatively subtle and focused album. Quiet re-thinks his music's relationship to space and mood with a new and welcome sense of simplicity.
Flying Lotus’ last record, Cosmogramma, was an overstuffed orgy, a grab bag filled to the brim with all manner of sounds. It’s a fantastic record, but an exhausting one, difficult to process, and very, very busy. His new album, the coy Until The Quiet Comes, is similarly inundated with influences, but does a better…
Electro-maestro Flying Lotus continues his sonic voyage on album number four, a lush journey into dreams that unearths a host of heady new sounds.
Check out our album review of Artist's Until the Quiet Comes on Rolling Stone.com.
True to Flying Lotus form, Bruner's voice, as well as those of everyone else, is made to sound phantasmal rather than spotlit.
If Cosmogramma was the sound of Flying Lotus coming of age, making a statement of intent that would define the approach and philosophy not just of his Brainfeeder label, but of the Los Angeles beat scene as a whole, then Until The Quiet Comes is its more muted, effortlessly cool twin. Rather than another sprawling, psychedelic journey, Quiet... is a collection of songs and sketches.
At this point, you should know what you're getting with a Flying Lotus album.
<p>The LA producer's fourth album is packed full of ideas but they don't always feel like fully fleshed-out compositions, writes <strong>Alex Macpherson </strong></p>
Psychedelic Los Angeleno creates a new kind of 21st century exotica. CD review by Joe Muggs