Little Tornados – We Are Divine

Album Review by Chris Buckle | 26 Aug 2014
Album title: We Are Divine
Artist: Little Tornados
Label: Rio Bogota Records
Release date: 1 Sep

For anyone disappointed by a lack of overt political engagement in pop, try Little Tornados on for size. Led by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter David Thayer alongside Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier, the band have gone as far as to place a passionate manifesto at the heart of debut We Are Divine, calling out “an exploitive economic system” that “thrives through our competitiveness, our selfishness and our egocentrism,” under which “the planet is being destroyed as the commodity of a guarded elite.”

If that sounds heavy-going, it’s worth noting that the invective is softly purred in French over a bed of charmingly mellow instrumentation, delivering Little Tornado’s message by stealth. Throughout the album, the band balance polemic with playfulness, whether exploring the cosmos in sci-fi odyssey Space Liner or weaving a child’s starry-eyed whispers into In the Garden’s delicate prog explorations, and while their musical styling is far from revolutionary, it fights a charismatic campaign. [Chris Buckle]

http://www.soundcloud.com/littletornados