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Son Lux
Lanterns
(Joyful Noise Recordings)
Four stars
That Ryan Lott is in a band with indie maestro Sufjan Stevens signposts what to expect of the third album from Son Lux, the former's stage moniker.
Like Stevens's most outlandish work, Lanterns is a huge, experimental record full of big ideas and brilliant colours.
Opener Alternate World is an astonishing orchestral voyage that includes a choir, steel drums, Spanish guitar, lap steel guitar and all manner of bleeps and synths. Lott continues to paint with a large canvas on Lost It To Trying, its intergalactic big beats and song structure bringing to mind Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips.
Elsewhere, the poppy hip hop cut Easy employs a stonking saxophone riff while Lott's vulnerable vocals sit beside more minimal but no less extraordinary instrumentation on closer Lanterns Lit.
Eccentric and infectious, file Son Lux alongside other US artists pushing the envelope like Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett.
