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Khruangbin Bring It Back to Basics With the Low-Key Majesty of ‘A La Sala’: Album Review
The mostly instrumental Texas trio Khruangbin have gotten quieter and more low-key with their fifth album 'A La Sala,' but no less intoxicating.
The group’s intricate and low-key sound, based around Mark Speer’s effortlessly imaginative guitar playing, is so distinctive that changing the approach would seem like a challenge, but the band has mixed things up with every release, introducing more vocals on their last group album, 2020’s “ Mordechai,” and releasing collaborative outings with Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré as well as Texan colleague Leon Bridges in the years since. And they’ve changed the approach again for “A La Sala,” dialing back the vocals and making the grooves and sound even more low-key, even for a group that’s never very loud and rarely intense. All three are excellent musicians, but Spear is a marvel, playing with a fluid style that incorporates multiple influences, from rock to African to blues to funk to Duane Eddy twang, with an innate sense of melody that carries the entire band.
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