Larvae

Dead Weight
Ad Noiseam

Larvae’s second full-length is a much more introspective hybrid of electronic and acoustic songs than the dark drum-and-bass of the group’s previous efforts. Dead Weight strips the predictably bombastic rhythms at the heart of Larvae’s sound by placing an emphasis on the subtleties lingering in the spaces between.

Hope For Agoldensummer’s Campbell sisters’ haunting croon in “Airplanes” is a humid declaration that Larvae is not up to its old tricks. There is a fundamental break from plugging cold and mechanical beats to a more song-oriented approach throughout each number.

“Nation of Bling” is a crunchy collaboration with avant-garde rappers Shadow Huntaz. “Telecast” wraps glitchy rhythms around Jessica Bailiff’s spectral voice, redesigning the borders between electronic and acoustic music, resulting in a thoroughly engaging creation.

--Chad Radford
Originally published by Creative Loafing, Atlanta (7/12/06).