Ruban Nielson’s psych-soul project Unknown Mortal Orchestra never stood out as anything near of pioneering, but in-terms of putting catchy lo-fi tunes with dense and gripping lyrical topics on the table, both previous albums are strong arguments for why Nielson and co are one of the true masters of contemporary lo-fi music.
On new single and title track from upcoming album, “Multi-Love”, Nielson ditches the guitars that occupied a lot of frequency space on II’s (few) weaker moments and trades them for warm, home-built, synthesizers. And the result is probably the warmest and coziest this band has ever sounded. Even lyrically, it’s all a bit more positive; where II confronted dark but powerful themes of depression and isolation, “Multi-Love” ponders on the challenges of loving multiple people at once. It’s a great track – one of my favorites from this project – and I look forward hearing more on May 26 when Jagjaguwar will release Multi-Love.