Laika - 'Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing' (Too Pure)
3/5
By: Toby L
Ever an oddity, Laika. That transcendent, restless state between calculated pop and the experimental, brooding avant-garde, with latest studio-LP 'Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing', rather than confirm the niche, Laika seem set to further confuse us.
But when oh when was confusion ever this engrossing? Hypnotic through usage of relentless repetition, imagine Bjork on sleeping-pills and void of the owl-impersonations and 'Wherever...' is your haven. A ten-song long, flittering-about of synth-y electronica, jazzy guitars and angelic, puritanical, siren-like vocals, and graced with a finesse of plushness, this isn't adequate for a post-pub sing-a-long.
... More likely, far better suited to a soundtrack aboard the tube or subway, observing the passing stations and steely stares from those seated opposite you - the paranoia of someone nicking your bag as intense as the restless beats and palpitations that flicker and hover through the persistent stream of Laika. 'Alphabet Soup' is enveloping, sweet and affecting ('Silence please now, I don't want a word/Got deep in trouble and my hands got burnt'), 'Girl Without Hands' is poetic and mysterious, 'Barefoot Blues' is Portishead if Beth Gibbons served eggs and chips in a greasy café, and 'Leaf By Leaf' is the sleaziest the combo get, with lustrous, pounding bass and wah-y guitar.
By the moment 'Fish For Nails' hits - with its chilling, Radiohead-y precision and bleakness - you're about poised and ready to take a leap behind the sofa, the final couplet of a percussive-based 'Oh' and build-up electro/chimes of 'King Sleepy' fitting material for a James Bond soundtrack.
And that's Laika all over, really - dramatic, class-oozing, and slick. There - not such a conundrum as once thought, after all.
Artists in this article: Laika
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