DJANGO DJANGO

Off Planet (Because)

Django Django are far out in Off Planet, traversing unfamiliar styles and unexpected collaborations but dodging cosmic clichés. The result is a behemoth spanning techno, lo-fi, indie and funk. The band fully embrace their dance credentials with the four-on-the-floor jubilance of A New Way Through, collaborating with Jack Peñate on piano-house track No Time, and the standout single Complete Me, a garage throwback featuring the unrivalled vocals of Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor.

Songs such as Galaxy Mood and DumDrum sound like they’ve already been remixed by electro DJs. In amongst the genre-hopping, the band occasionally pause for breath with instrumentals resembling early Metronomy or Caribou demos. Yet there are some true-to-form Django moments, in the chanting Golden Cross and typically hypnotic album opener Wishbone.

Standing at 21 tracks and divided into four parts (imagined as separate planets), the first listen may be a struggle for the faint-hearted, but it’s worth persevering. 

words ROSANNA LEWIS