Album Review: Khruangbin's "A La Sala"

"The Music You Would Hear Playing Inside A Lava Lamp"

L-R Mark Speer, Laura Lee Ochoa, and DJ Johnson. photo © David Black

Khruangbin (it means “airplane” in Thai) is a Houston band which consists of Laura Lee Ochoa on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and DJ Johnson on drums. Their music defies easy categorization; it is mostly instrumental and includes elements of funk, surf-rock, and eastern harmonies.

Although I cannot find the writer (which I certainly wish was myself), the best description I have heard of Khruangbin’s is that it sounds like “the music you would hear playing inside a lava lamp.”

“A La Sala” is the band’s fourth studio album and its first since 2020’s Mordechai, a more experimental effort which included Khruangbin’s first use of vocals. “A La Sala” also uses vocals (“May Ninth” above), but they are generally in support of the languid, guitar-based grooves that characterized Khruangbin’s early work. Laura Lee Ochoa explains:

I used to scream “A La Sala” around my house when I was a little girl, to get everybody in the living room; to get my family together. That’s kind of what recording the new album felt like. Emotionally there was a desire to get back to square-one between the three of us, to where we came from–in sonics and in feeling. Let’s get back there.”

Khruangbin’s ensemble sound is created in the same way an experienced string quartet subordinates each instrument to a larger, distinct composite; complex musical interplay creates its signature, lava-lamp, trippy vibe.

“A Love International” is a good example. While Mark Speer’s guitar plays a Santana-meets-surf-guitar melody, Laura Lee Ochoa’s bass plays a dotted, syncopated figure throughout. The song tells its story without lyrics, dramatic drum fills, or screaming guitar solos; the rising and falling action is found within the musical composite.

Khruangbin is on a world tour in support of “A La Sala.” They will perform in Buffalo open May 28, at the Rockin’ at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. Watch this space for my review.

Khruangbin’s A La Sala was released April 5, 2024 on the Dead Oceans label. It can be purchased here.