Little Dragon

Little Dragon come from Gothenburg, Sweden, where they formed in 1996, and they make electronic pop that feels both icy and warm at once: synths that shimmer like frost, grooves with trip-hop's slow sway and a jazzy looseness, and Yukimi Nagano's voice, cool and sly, floating over it all. Nagano sings and plays percussion, Erik Bodin drums and Håkan Wirenstrand plays keyboards.

It was a slow build. Their first release was the double A-side single "Test"/"4ever" on Off the Wall in 2006, and the next year they signed with the British indie Peacefrog and put out their self-titled debut in August 2007. Machine Dreams followed in August 2009 and drew good notices.

Ritual Union, released in July 2011, is where they hit their stride, and the title track is the calling card: a sly, strutting, minimal groove that lets the space between the beats do the work. They kept going from there: Nabuma Rubberband, on Because Music in 2014, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album, and Season High, New Me, Same Us and Slugs of Love followed.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.