Credits:

London Grammar

On Californian Soil, vocalist Hannah Reid takes the reins as London Grammars leader and visionary, delivering a confident, dynamic, and feminist set that is the English trios best to date. Arriving four years after their chart-topping sophomore effort, the album is not a huge departure from the groups brand of soulful dream pop, but with the newfound sonic and thematic focus, the results are brighter, more epic, and quite stunning. Supported by her bandmates Dan Rothman and Dot Major, Reid sounds freshly liberated and brimming with confidence, exposing her emotions with vulnerable self-awareness and pushing her vocals to angelic extremes that evoke predecessors like Dido and Elizabeth Fraser. Echoes of the latter are apparent from the outset, as Californian Soil sounds like a 2021 version of Massive Attacks Teardrop. Didos folktronica spirit courses through tracks such as the swelling Missing, the sparkling groove