With their sophomore full-length album, 2018's polished
Orion, New Yorks'
X Ambassadors further hone their dusky brand of electro-tinged pop. Working with executive producer
Ricky Reed, who has previously helmed albums with
Jason Derulo,
Leon Bridges,
Maroon 5, and others,
X Ambassadors offer an album that builds upon the dark emotionality of their early work while offering more of the exuberant pop hooks they adopted on 2015's
VHS. It's a sound they've been on the hunt to perfect ever since nabbing initial buzz in 2011 with singles like "Litost" and "Consolable" -- and one that purportedly even led them to abandon an entire album in 2018. Instead, they started again, working closely with
Reed,
Earwulf, and others. Borrowing its title from the mythological Greek hunter,
Orion once again showcases the soulful vocals of lead singer
Sam Harris, whose throaty lilt adds to the record's earthy production. In fact, many of the arrangements here seem to hinge less upon any synth or drum programming (though there is that), and more on deftly captured analog elements like the twangy acoustic guitar riff on "Hey Child," which evokes a Spaghetti Western-meets-goth vibe akin to
Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus." Similarly stripped down is the bluesy "Quicksand," in which
Harris coos with hip-hop swagger over another buzzy acoustic riff that brings to mind a more serious take on
Odelay-era
Beck. Elsewhere, the band joins singer
K. Flay for the yearning R&B- and flamenco-accented duet "Confidence," offers up the infectious
Achtung Baby-esque pop kinetics of "Boom," and sinks into more sexy hip-hop moodiness on the minor-key falsetto slow jam "Rule." Also compelling is the group's anthemic "Wasteland" which finds them adopting a bit of
Bruce Springsteen's passionate stadium sparkle. There are even a few extremely stripped-down moments including the folky ballad "History" and the stirring "I Don't Know How to Pray," in which
Harris pleads with gospel intensity against a supple Rhodes-sounding keyboard. As the title implies,
Orion is the work of a band on the hunt for a sound that balances outsized mainstream hooks with more fine-tuned R&B intensity, and so far, they've been successful. ~ Matt Collar