Little Dragon at Rhythm Factory, 7 December 2009

Elizabeth Marchetti
29.12.09

The stage of intimate venue "Rhythm Factory" in East London is set for Little Dragon´s arrival: the keyboards, percussions, bass and mic are in place, along with empty glass bottles turned upside down and Asian gongs. Meanwhile, urban act Kotchy is keeping the crowd entertained with his synthetic jungle-slash-hip hop sounds. The small room is getting smaller under the blue lights, and excitement is high when the four-piece Swedish band from Gothenburg coyly appears.
Little Dargon´s Swedish-Japanese front woman Yukimi Nagano is the show, with a silky honey-glazed r´n´b voice complementing energetic sensuality that makes it hard to keep our eyes adrift.  Backed up by three scruffy-looking musicians, Little Dragon´s music has a special touch, a dreamy fable-like element in it, with references to soul, jazz, and electronic pop. The criss-cross genre comes out well when talent is in the mix, and this band surely doesn´t lack in that department.
And since they all met in high school,they share a binding alchemy that is hard to replicate. The set list is perfect, swaying the crowd between jumpy and dreamy mode. Yukimi is bursting, extending her arms to the sky and tapping on cymbals and bottles or rattling her tambourine.
Over a few years, with their skills and good looks, Little Dragon has captivated a solid fan base and deserves real notoriety.
For now, let´s hope it remains a little secret, before they fall into the "major" trap and lose their genuine quality. All tracks of the night are from their second album "Machine Dreams" which is more electronically influenced than the first. Newbies "Feather", "Never Never" and "Mystep" got us dancing, while songs from the homonymous first album like "After the Rain", "Test", "Constant Surprises" and "Scribbled paper" really strike a chord. Ending the show before the beautiful ballad "Twice" was criminal, and left fans shouting their request, which was granted. Surely that´s what LD´s machinations for the perfect ending to a breezy sweet night.