Little Dragon are quintessentially themselves on New Me, Same Us

Little Dragon are one of those bands that sit in a no man’s land of success. They are so consistently good that they almost get overlooked. A blessing and a curse. New Me, Same Us challenges that familiarity head on by recognising what Little Dragon are best at: making modern pop that is confident, alluring, and heartfelt.

After making six albums together, letting go of egos and truly collaborating together may be a strange sentiment but listening to New Me, Same Us, you hear the honesty and compromise in equal measure. Each track is like a piece of the puzzle. You’re looking at the shapes in front of you thinking that they will never fit together; then somehow, given time, everything clicks into place. That satisfactory snap into place is what Little Dragon has been searching for. Their wait is now over.

They expertly sand down the edges of pop, R&B, hip hop and soul, disregarding the rules laid before them. “Hold On” bounces along a disco-drenched beat, “Every Rain” turns inward on a deep house groove, whilst “New Fiction” basks in the glow of neo-soul. At each turn you’re confronted by something new, something exciting, yet not completely unexpected.

As people we always seem to be looking to the next thing, how we can better ourselves, how can we push our limits. Sometimes it’s better to focus on what we already have, what we can do that no one else can. Little Dragon figured this out. Because no one can make irresistible pop music like they do.