Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes

For Steve Ellison it was always going to be a tough challenge to tackle the follow up to 2010’s Cosmogramma, an era defining album that sent the name Flying Lotus, quite literally, hurtling around the stratosphere.

On first listen Until The Quiet Comes possesses a lot of the same qualities as its predecessor, a neat mix of progressive beats, swarming synths and fluttering bass riffs. It does however, display a new-found confidence in style and progression, something that previous offerings seemed to lack.

According to the man himself the core of the album’s concept is based around a collage of dreams, sleep and lullabies. Opening track All In begins this descent into slumber with a flourish of keys and repetitive snares, but it’s not until half way through that the the album really starts to move, with the introduction of Thundercat’s notorious roaming bass, a sound that has become synonymous with the Brainfeeder label over the past couple of years.

The lucid tones begin to take prominence on later tracks such as Electric Candyman and Hunger, the former featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (paying what seems to be a strange homage to the seminal 90’s horror flick) repeating the phrase “look in to the mirror” over and over.

Despite all the collaborations (Erykah Badu, Laura Darlington and Niki Randa also feature) Until The Quiet Comes is still definitively a Flying Lotus record with Ellison at the helm pulling the strings. It is a clear and certain offering from a man who seems to have no fear of territories uncharted, as if we needed to be reminded.

— Steven Battle