SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: KHRUANGBIN – A LA SALA

KHRUANGBIN
A LA SALA
DEAD OCEANS/NIGHT TIME STORIES, LTD.

Khruangbin has returned with A La Sala, their fourth studio album and first since 2020’s Mordechai. Over the course of 12 songs, the nearly instrumental trio continues to develop their stripped back, nearly lo-fi sound into new territory. Quite impressively, the album was made only in the presence of a single engineer, Steve Christensen, and was done so live off the floor with minimal overdubs.

A La Sala opens with “Fifteen Fifty-Three”, a slow burning, reflective track that allows for the listener to take note of the direction Khruangbin is headed. The song develops at an intentional pace, allowing for the guitar, bass, and drums to settle. The subtle and further use of percussion only enhance the song while the hazy production leaves “Fifteen Fifty-Three” sounding warm and inviting, like an old, cracking record. Similarly, the following track, “May Ninth” is a lush soundscape that makes further use of gentle, harmonized vocals – something which Khruangbin uses so sparingly that it proves to be an incredibly effective texture among the album.

While much of the former half of A La Sala may suffer from a sense repetition in tempos, musical style, and tone, such homogeneity is broken with a lively second half. Songs like “Ada Jean”, “Pon Pón” “Juegos y Nubes”, “Hold Me Up (Thank You)”, and “A Love International” all stand apart in showcasing of examples that see Khruangbin pull from a wide array of styles – pop, R&B, disco – to focus their signature lo-fi sound. These songs offer a brighter tone to the music along with a much-needed sense of musical variety and stylistic diversity. There is much to enjoy on A La Sala; however, an alternative track listing would certainly add to the listener’s experience.

A La Sala is an exercise in both creative minimalism and performative restraint. Each song is an opportunity for Khruangbin to paint a spacious soundscape that their arrangements gradually fill to a point that is neither full nor empty. This speaks to the trio’s ability to write strong songs and recognize that such songs can often stand on their own rather than relying on any flash in the pan as a means of creating a stimulating album. It is through such levels of taste that makes A La Sala shine as a unique album.

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