Kazuashita

Kazuashita largely follows the trajectory that Gang Gang Dance have been on since 2008's Saint Dymphna, with the experimental New York group continuing to trade their more organic, improvisational style for one more electronic, sleek, and polished. Still present are the omnivorous combinations of world beats ("Snake Dub") with singer Lizzi Bougatsos' ethereal vocals ("Young Boy [Marika in Amerika]"). But here, on their first album since 2011's Eye Contact, the rougher edges of past releases are smoothed out, incorporating the breeziness of Balearic beat on "J-TREE" and "Too Much, Too Soon," while lead single "Lotus" floats over sheer, delicate textures that recall fellow 4AD band Cocteau Twins.