Little Dragon – “High” (Singles Going Steady)

Paul Carr: The first release since Nabuma Rubberband sees the band kick back with a deceptively simple ode to the pleasures of getting stoned. It’s a suitably woozy atmospheric track featuring crisp, undulating synths and lolling, drowsy beats. It’s a very polished sound with unhurried, whispering vocals that give the song a certain ’80s vibe. The whole thing is allowed to drift and swirl, like clouds of smoke as they drift into the night sky. [7/10]

Adriane Pontecorvo: No one does atmosphere quite as well as Little Dragon. “High” is sheer bliss in musical form, electronics buoying up Yukimi Nagano’s ethereal voice and letting it drift somewhere far away from any kind of trouble. This isn’t one of Little Dragon’s more interesting or complex tracks, though and it seems an odd choice for a single, since it doesn’t break any real new ground or bother with the unexpected. Instead, it sounds like a leftover from 2014’s Nabuma Rubberband, something that wasn’t quite interesting enough to make the final cut. Again, there’s nothing really wrong with it, and it’s hard to stay mad at such a sweet stoner jam, but Little Dragon knows how to take things much further than this. [7/10]

SCORE: 7.00