Supreme Beings of Leisure

Electronic pop duo Supreme Beings of Leisure are back with their first release since 2002, and they wear their vintage status like a badge of honor, conjuring a pre-millennial time when trip-hop was still a genre and Air had somehow turned every teenager's bedroom into a space-age bachelor pad. But Supreme Beings of Leisure is simultaneously moodier and clubbier than those acts, taking major cues from the dramatic sheen of the early '80s New Romantics. Geri Soriano-Lightwood's vocals occupy the necessary territory somewhere between sexy, tortured, and nodding out, while chief sonic architect Ramin Sakurai has crammed every track full of incessant detail--from heightened string sounds and manic squiggles of synth, to bottomless seas of soundtrack-style drone. This more-is-more approach works best on the self-described "ambient R&B" of "Swallow," and the nearly disorienting lushness of "Angelhead." Sakurai's instincts only begin to let him down near the end of the album. A bombastic U2-esque guitar solo comes out of nowhere to interrupt an otherwise fine track called "Oneness," and an endlessly tweaking keyboard lead makes it impossible to notice whatever else is going on in the following song. But the closing "Lay Me Down" makes a nice change of pace, leaving all the addled ecstasy behind for a mellow fade-out that your ears will certainly feel they’ve earned.

— Nate Cunningham
02.19.08

After a five year absence, Supreme Beings of Leisure returned with 11i, a lush therapy session of an album where angst and luxury are both overindulged. Sometimes, it works splendidly as is the case with "The Light," where studio whiz Ramin Sakurai offers light breakbeats and cinematic strings while singer/songwriter Geri Soriano-Lightwood cleans out her closet. There's a cringe-worthy moment, though, when she sings "My mother's voice spills out of me like vinegar" with gigantic authority. She isn't so bold on the rest of the album, and most of her pining for freedom and dealing with "a love not made for this world" is easier to swallow, which is good because this effort is stuffed with words. Had guitarist Geoff Brandin been allowed to take his imitation of David Gilmour into an epic, Pink Floyd-esque solo it would have made "Mirror" a better track. Had DJ Swamp been allowed to scratch a little longer on "Swallow," it would have offered some much needed excitement and grit. None of this is allowed because the Beings fancy themselves as songwriters here. While they can set a mood with clever wordplay or vivid phrases, their real strengths are Sakurai's posh, downtempo soundscapes and Soriano-Lightwood's voice, which hasn't lost any of its power while on a half-decade break. This is a mood album mistakenly thinking it's deep, but 11i -- named after the duo's "fascination with the number 11" of all things -- is at least familiar sounding and musically well crafted. Sultry and chic sounds are still well in the Beings command, and that's the reason most fans signed on in the first place. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi