Lux Prima is the rare collaboration that highlights both artists’ strengths without showing compromise from either.
When Parquet Courts released their excellent album Wide Awake! last year, my review dedicated a significant amount of time to discussing its production by Danger Mouse. To summarize, Parquet Courts were a lo-fi rock band who teamed up with a producer best known for working with rappers, pop stars, and stadium rock acts. It seemed like an odd coupling, but ultimately the result was a success, as Parquet Courts proved their talent and appeal transcended sounding “raw.”
A collaboration between Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O and Danger Mouse feels much less peculiar. For starters, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a big name in the indie rock world, big enough to be one of the most-quoted bands in the 2000s indie chronicle book Meet Me in the Bathroom. They never really embraced minimal production the way Parquet Courts did. Beyond the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (who haven’t released anything since fourth album Mosquito in 2013), Karen O released a solo album Crush Songs in 2014, and – quite coincidentally here – collaborated with Parquet Courts and Italian composer Daniele Luppi on the 2017 album Milano. On stage, she’s known for both her flashy costumes and manic presence, really capturing the rock star persona. Karen O has the credentials and the charisma, so maximal production seems like something that would only complement her, not detract.
This assumption proves correct on Karen O and Danger Mouse’s collaborative album Lux Prima. It’s just as polished and flashy as you’d expect, but is full of unexpected twists as it ebbs and flows between trip-hop, baroque pop, and rockin’ out. By taking Danger Mouse’s crafty instrumentals and production, and topping them off with Karen O’s kinetic vocals, Lux Prima is the rare collaboration that highlights both artists’ strengths without showing compromise from either.
At first, it’s tempting to listen to Lux Prima and draw comparisons to Karen O’s other projects. Sometimes this is a fruitful endeavor, since “Reveries” has the same lo-fi charm and acoustic guitar strumming as Crush Songs, while “Leopard’s Tongue” is a moderate rocker that could be found on a later Yeah Yeah Yeahs release. For the remainder of the album, everything feels truly fresh, and this is Karen O like you’ve never heard her before. For instance, the single “Woman” has her trademark switch between cutting tones and howling falsetto that we’ve heard since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs debuted Fever to Tell in 2003. However, the track’s stomping drum-beat and backup vocals are new ground for her, and Motown comparisons feel obligatory here. “Turn the Light” is underscored by a funky bassline during its verses, but gives off more of a disco vibe at its choruses, when Karen sings “tonight my love, we’ll turn to light.” It’s not all retro influences either, as “Redeemer” has the same guitar twang typically associated with James Bond theme songs, and a repeated refrain of “not coming for me, I’m coming for you” only helps build this spy movie motif.
If you can’t tell, Lux Prima isn’t afraid to span multiple styles, yet its embrace of trip-hop might be the most surprising inclusion. Although trip-hop is usually summarized as blending hip-hop instrumentals with downtempo electronica, it’s one of those subgenres that’s in practice difficult to pin down, and relies more on a “I know it when I hear it” mentality to identify. Whatever it is, Lux Prima has it. “Ministry” contrasts delicately plucked acoustic notes with undulating bass notes that vaguely brings Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” to mind. Less vague is the similarity between “Drown” and “Half Day Closing” by Portishead, from the bass line to the vocal distortion effects. The strings and choir-like sounds at the end of “Drown” set it apart somewhat, but otherwise the track is a dead ringer for Portishead. It might seem predictable to namecheck the few big names in trip-hop here, even if they are warranted, but it is refreshing to see a 2019 revival of a subgenre typically associated with the late 90s.
The one risk with such that comes with a spectacular album like Lux Prima is that sometimes the album’s “vision” can feel like a little too much. Bookending the album are opener “Lux Prima” and closer “Nox Lumina,” which are Latin for “first light” and ”night lights,” respectively. Just as you’d expect from tracks titled with a dead language, both are very grandiose, sounding like cinematic scores at times, with all of the synthesized orchestra effects that you can handle. The nine-minute long title track is particularly over the top, as it doesn’t really get going until a drum beat kicks in one-third the way through after an ambient intro. Karen dominates the (again) trip-hop flavored middle third with a chorus of “I’m nowhere, I’m no one, I’m nobody, there’s nobody but you,” but then the ambient section reappears to close the song (albeit with more beats and vocal effects this time). “Nox Lumina” follows a similar pattern, one that’s slightly more condensed since it’s only six minutes long, but its outro features the same synth melody that opens “Lux Prima” to make the album come full circle. While this is certainly a nice touch, both tracks occasionally feel a tad overblown in their efforts to sound like a complete synthesized orchestra.
The greatest strength of Lux Prima might be how original it sounds. It’s a collaboration between two accomplished musicians, but doesn’t sound like anything they’ve done before. It’s ambitious and each track is distinct, but without any overt steps where boundaries are pushed for their own sake. It reaches into the past, but in ways you wouldn’t expect in an environment where it feels like every other musician is busy mining the 80s. It’s a success for both Karen O and Danger Mouse, and you’ll hope that this “first light” isn’t the last for their collaboration.
Rating: 8/10
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