Lux Prima - Danger Mouse/Karen O: Review

Lux Prima

is the first collaborative album between Karen O, lead singer of acclaimed indie band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and super-producer Danger Mouse who has worked with the likes of Cee Lo Green, MF Doom, The Black Keys, Aaron Dessner, and most recently Parquet Courts. The two are coming from very different places in their respective careers and their styles clashing should be of interest to musical fans of all kind given the pedigree of both artists.

Review By Lavender:

I would say on average I differ from most fans of both of these artists. I think indie fans like Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs more than I do and I think fans don't like Danger Mouse as much as I do. So maybe given that balance and the fact that the title track to this album was released as an excellent single, we can all meet in the middle and anticipate a record that should have some above average qualities pulled from its two collaborators.

The album already had a pretty substantial headstart with its fantastic lead single, opener and title track Lux Prima. The song is just over 9 minutes and makes up nearly a fourth of the record on its own, which makes it all the better that it's fantastic. It has an absolutely gorgeous instrumental to open up and it builds slowly and powerfully into the core of the song around 3 minutes in where Karen O steps in with some warm but distant vocals around a very tight drum loop. She delivers a killer refrain on the songs pseudo-hook before regrouping with the songs beginning for its gorgeous closing moments. Unfortunately the album never gets back to this level of compositional excellence and most of the tracks stick to a pretty short stint.

Thankfully the record doesn't take a straight dive as the second track Ministry is another one of its best.  It has a soft build in the beginning that lead into a very measured performance from Karen that is one of her best on the record but when the chorus gets louder the song really comes into its own with an incredible instrumental palette. The next two tracks are pretty rough as the instrumentals that have made the album so good so far dissolve into radio rock level pap really quickly. Turn The Light opens with a rough sounding drum kick wrapped around a pretty solid bass groove, but Karen O channels Molly Rankin of Alvvays in a vocal performance that completely derails the song and doesn't fit the style of the instrumental at all. Woman has a performance that at least fits its alt-rock style but has a truly awful chorus that is very tough to get through and is a moment that doesn't highlight the talents of either artist.

Redeemer suffers from some of the same issues as the alt-rocky songs before but overcomes them with a decent vocal performance from Karen and a fittingly psychedelic instrumental that stands out in the album but makes the track a much more memorable one. Drown is a much more experimental cut that I like a lot, when Karen breaks into her crackled spoken word delivery it is chilling and it may be her best moment on the entire project. Karen once again shines on Leopard's Tongue a track that I enjoyed mostly due to her fun and eclectic performance and just a generally more well written song than some of the earlier cuts. 

Reveries is another spot that I consider to be a mistake. It's a very, painfully slow acoustic guitar ballad that stands out like a sore thumb among the much more atmospheric songs that litter this album. No part of this track really hits the right way with me and it is definitely one I would recommend skipping. Thankfully there is something to like more in the albums 6 minute closer Nox Lumina a song where Karen O once again outshines Danger Mouse with her surreal and captivating lyrics and quiet but impactful singing, I could have done with the long intro and fade out moments of this track being cut to streamline what I liked about it as it leaves a somewhat sour taste in my mouth right at the end of the project. 

In their first collaboration together Danger Mouse and Karen O both bring what has made them so acclaimed in the past, but far too often they fail to find common ground and deliver on their best qualities at the same time. Parts of this album sound like watered down Yeah Yeah Yeah's songs but in a few choice moments they evolve into something else entirely. In the future if the two continue to collaborate I can only hope they intend to focus more on the abstract parts of their work. 5.5/10

For more indie check out my review of Foals Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt.1 here.