Labradford - E Luxo So (CD)

All Music Guide

The underrated but present Labradford sense of humor turns up here in an amusing way -- namely, the six song titles for the band's fifth record, which when read in order are in fact the album credits: recording studio, side players and so forth. Besides being entertainingly wry, this emphasizes even more than the one and two-letter song titles from Media that Labradford are much more about musical than any lyrical intent -- something always apparent, but even more so here, on the band's first full instrumental release. Compared with the low-key complexity of Media, Luxo is far more minimal and a bit less gripping as a result, though not by much. The keyboard (?)-provided rhythm on "with John Morand and assisted by Brian Hoffa" helps make it one of the quirkiest songs yet Labradford have done, while having piano instead of organ playing against the guitar makes it even more distinct. "Dulcimers played by Peter Neff. Strings played" actually verges on being modern classical, consisting a...lmost solely of piano and a string quartet, with the exception of a sudden interruption of what sounds like a door opening and closing and various gears turning. "and Jonathan Morken. Photo provided by" has more of the in-depth sound layering expected of Labradford, with what sounds like a series of record pops helping to provide some of the rhythm beneath a piano/organ/guitar combination, but generally this is a more spacious sounding effort from the band, and not a bad one at all. - Ned Raggett, All Music Guide Read more Less