Khruangbin trio readies new album,‘Mordechai,’ due in June
Last October, Khruangbin returned to Houston for a spirited, guest-filled hometown show at White Oak Music Hall. On this particular visit, the band wasn’t playing inside the venue, but rather to the approximately 3,000 fans on the lawn, all lured by the band’s sound, a notquite-instrumental mix that draws inspiration from all manner of global influences.
The performance essentially marked the end of Khruangbin’s tour cycle behind “Con Todo El Mundo,” released in 2018. That album saw the band — comprising three Houston natives — rise from an exotic curiosity to a major music-festival draw.
Having released “Texas Sun,” a collaborative EP with Fort Worth’s Leon Bridges earlier this year, Khruangbin this week announces its third album, “Mordechai,” due June 26 on the Dead Oceans label. The album finds the trio further expanding its sound with more Asian and African influences, while also gently nudging further from its instrumental roots through vocals and songs with lyrical refrains.
The band’s producer, Steve Christensen, called it “a new world for KB.”
The album features a lot of funk, dub, surf, psychedelia and soul from all parts of the planet to pull into its mix. An ethereal sound that avoids being pinned down took Khruangbin from an oddity and curiosity into a group that sold out almost every show it played last year across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Notes for the album suggest that its themes are led by the idea of memory, “holding onto it, letting it go, naming it before it disappears.” Some songs are immediate dance tunes while others have deeper provenance. “So We Won’t
Forget” was inspired by Lee’s affinity for documenting memories by Post-It note in her apartment. “Dearest Alfred” was inspired by letters her grandfather wrote to his twin brother.
Though more of the same would have sufficed, the album finds the band as restless as its odd moniker, which means “engine fly,” or the Thai word for “airplane.” “Mordechai” takes its name from a stranger Lee met.
The trio’s first album, “The Universe Smiles Upon You,” was released in 2015, followed by its breakthrough three years later. Last year Khruangbin
put out “Hasta El Cielo” — a dub version of “Con Todo El Mundo.”
The band saw its fan base swell beyond Europe, where it had an early and enthusiastic audience. Earlier this month Netflix released a popular new show, “Outer Banks,” which repeatedly featured Khruangbin music in its episodes.
Last fall, guitarist Mark Speer called the band’s increasing renown “surreal.”
“I mean, we’re this band with a weird name, playing mainly instrumental music with a weird stage presence,” he said, referring to the long Prince Caspian wigs he and bassist/singer bassist Laura Lee wear. “I never anticipated any of this
stuff could happen. I’m thankful. Blessed. But I’m confused as to why.”
On the new album, the comfortably laid-back beat set by drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson remains a constant reminder of the band’s Houston roots, even as Khruangbin draws inspiration from around the globe. The band makes music of foraging, digging through record crates and traveling the world, and then coming home to make it work. The album was recorded in the family barn in Burton.
“Hopefully, when all is said and done,” Johnson told the Houston Chronicle late last year, “I hope people think we sound like Houston.”