If you’re yearning for spring—or, at least, the thought of it—then Club 8‘s Latin American-inflected “Western Hospitality” should help alleviate the winter blues while awaiting the real thing. Before recording their upcoming seventh LP, The People’s Record (Labrador), the veteran Swedes traveled to Brazil and listened to a plethora of ’70s-era West African records for inspiration, which undoubtedly informed the jangly, percussion-heavy aesthetic of “Western Hospitality.” Relinquishing production duties for the first time in their 15-year career, vocalist Karolina Komstedt and songwriter Johan Angergård brought in Jari Haapalainen (Concretes, Camera Obscura), marking a fresh, more dynamic era for the two-piece, whose previous output is more relaxed and melancholic. The result is a joyous, dance-laden sound that pays homage to its tropical source material without belying Club 8’s identity. The People’s Record arrives in the U.S. on May 18.
“Western Hospitality” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/WesternHospitality.mp3
