Violet Street

Editors’ Notes During the recording of 2016’s Sunlit Youth, Local Natives traveled far and wide—from Malaysia and Nicaragua to Hawaii—in an effort to refresh their sound. This time, they’re keeping it local: The Los Angeles quintet recorded their fourth album at producer Shawn Everett’s studio in downtown LA, and named it after the studio's location. Everett—described by the band as their “sixth member” in an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1—helps the band incorporate lush, meticulous arrangements that brim with detail and texture. Though settled in their home base, their indie-rock sound remains just as exotic and enthralling: “Gulf Shores” and “Someday Now” bring back the Afropop rhythms of 2009’s Gorilla Manor over groovy guitar riffs and inventive sonic tricks. On the jazzy, percussion-heavy “Café Amarillo,” vocalist Taylor Rice contemplates the difficulty of emotional distance (inspired by his recent marriage) as he sails across the English Channel. The sleek psych-pop of “Megaton Mile,” described by the band as “a fun song about the apocalypse,” comes through like a whirlwind of aural delight—and all we can do is dance.