NINJA TUNE
If 2017’s pleasing but, ultimately, patchy Season High found Little Dragon struggling to compromise with one another, this time they seem to be all about harmony. New Fiction recalls trip-hop’s early days, its pace more determined than Massive Attack’s early albums but not as cheerful as Morcheeba’s, while its closing piano solo would have suited a Talkin’ Loud release from the same era. Yukimi Nagano is so playful against Rush’s jerky Caribbean rhythms, however, you could imagine Prince digging her scene, and on Another Lover she’s soulfully suggestive of Lianne La Havas at her best. Stay Right Here, too, is perfectly poised, and though Sadness only picks up the pace slowly, its arrangements providing a reminder this is a band, not a bedroom act, there’s no way you’ll answer affirmatively after Are You Feeling Sad?