Review: Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

Until The Quiet Comes is the fourth studio album from L.A based producer Steven Ellison, a.k.a. Flying Lotus. Ellison’s rise to fame has been astronomic, starting with the release of his debut album, (titled) 1983, in 2006; Ellison already heads his own label, Brainfeeder Records and has a further two masterpiece albums under his belt in 2008’s L.A and the 2010 release, Cosmogramma. Starting out as a hip hop instrumentalist in the vein of J Dilla, Ellison’s sound has grown into a genre of own, incorporating many elements of jazz, glitch, future garage and other styles into his music. Regardless of where he’s drawn from though, Flying Lotus has lead the way in the modern alternative electronic scene from the beginning and shows yet again with Until The Quiet Comes that he’s still best there is.

With his last two LPs being largely characterised by a wall of samples dancing beneath the production, long-time fans will find Ellison’s newest release to be far more stripped down and bare than they’re used to. The occasional harp does turn up on a few tracks, and Thundercat’s bass is all over the album, but it’s still a stark contrast to the lush strings and brass that played their way across Cosmogramma. The album opens up in familiar enough style though, with the tracks All In and Getting There. While Niki Randa’s voice doesn’t sit that well on Getting There, it’s still a strong start to the album that continues with the ambient Until The Colours Come. The first stand out track turns up early on in Tiny Tortures. Reminiscent of Thom Yorke’s recent solo work, Tiny Tortures sees Flying Lotus make a foray in alternative glitch music, with spectacular results. The minimal, popping beat beneath the lurching bass develops into something quite unlike anything Ellison has done before.

Sultan’s Request is next to see Ellison move away from familiar ground with its enormous, roaring bass synths, before we come to album’s first single, Putty Boy Strut. Seemingly drawn from the same pool as the Pattern+Grid World EP, Putty Boy Strut starts as a beautiful mix of cut up vocal melodies that soon escalates with piano chords and Thundercat’s bass, before an outro of gorgeous strings caps it all off. The album’s close provides the last of the standout tunes, with three excellent songs that have featured artists. First to arrive is Thom Yorke’s second appearance on a Flying Lotus record, as he provides vocals for the seductively moody Electric Candyman. Niki Randa makes her far better second appearance on the album, lending her voice this time to the track Hunger. Also featuring Jonny Greenwood on guitar, Hunger’s wonderful outro rivals Putty Boy Strut’s as the most beautiful point in the album. Laura Darlington also makes her fourth Flying Lotus feature on what is probably the weakest of the three songs, Phantasm. Though it’s enjoyable enough, the track quickly develops into something a little too similar to Cosmogramma’s MmmHmm.

The album closes with the tracks Me Yesterday/ /Corded and Dream To Me, which, while not the most spectacular way to finish a record, do the job well enough.

The album does have its problems though. As with Phantasm, there are too many tracks which, while good, sound like they could have slotted just as well if not better into Cosmogramma. The trio of See Thru To U, Until The Quiet Comes and DMT Song are especially guilty of this. Thundercat’s bass turning up on almost every song also gets tiresome after a while.

Overall, Until The Quiet Comes is an excellent album, once again demonstrating Steven Ellison’s wonderful ability to seamlessly blend electronic with acoustic. It doesn’t quite live up the high the standards of Ellison’s preceding record, Cosmogramma, partly because it draws on its predecessor a bit too much, but it’s certainly worth a look at for anyone even vaguely interested in the more experimental side of electronic music.