Khruangbin, the group of Laura Lee, Mark Speer, and Donald Johnson will release their fourth studio album in April.
A la Sala, which lands on Dead Oceans in partnership with Night Time Stories Ltd., is the “purest distillation” of the Houston trio’s sound, we’re told.
The building blocks for the album’s 12 songs were jigsaw pieces found in Khruangbin’s creative past. Having stockpiled ideas originally set down as off-the-cuff recordings (voice-memos made at sound-checks, for example) they began fitting those pieces together in the studio. Which parts were apt? Which could be massaged and stretched out? Which inspired new sections or rhythms or musical interactions?
Once again, Khruangbin’s DNA kicked in. Layer-by-layer, the intimate work, rework and re-rework bore new fruit. They also brought back a strategy once foundational to their records: seeding an album with field recordings.
If 2020’s Mordechai, the last studio album Khruangbin made without collaborators, was “a party record,” A La Sala is “the measured morning after,” we’re told.
Over recent years, Khruangbin have released a number of live and collaborative projects including Texas Moon, their second collaborative EP with Leon Bridges. Its predecessor, Texas Sun, came out in 2020.
Tracklisting
01. Fifteen Fifty-Three
02. May Ninth
03. Ada Jean
04. Farolim de Felgueiras
05. Pon Pón
06. Todavía Viva
07. Juegos y Nubes
08. Hold Me Up (Thank You)
09. Caja de la Sala
10. Three From Two
11. A Love International
12. Les Petits Gris
A la Sala LP is scheduled for April 5 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “A Love International” below and pre-order here.
Photo: David Black