Rainbow Arabia’s Cinematic “FM Sushi”
Several releases into a fine discography, local husband and wife duo Rainbow Arabia have crafted a consistent sound that is equal parts 80s synthpop and “World” music. Like Bjork’s excursions…
By Mario Cotto • • 1 min readSeveral releases into a fine discography, local husband and wife duo Rainbow Arabia have crafted a consistent sound that is equal parts 80s synthpop and “World” music. Like Bjork’s excursions into polyethnicity, the duo’s sound fetishistically fused North African desert rhythms and Middle Eastern percussion with the neon glow of early MTV.
On their follow-up to 2011’s Boys and Diamonds, they’ve turned up the glow. Unlike that album, their new release FM Sushi is less a sonic trip to a club scene in sci-fi Morocco and more a Michael Mann thriller set in LA. Just prior to releasing FM Sushi, the group released The Sorcerer Mixtape which was a reimagining of Tangerine Dream’s score to William Friedkin’s 1977 film, The Sorcerer.
It’s a good sound for the duo who live in Echo Park, close to the damaged Downtown LA of Drive. The album has a cinematic hazy nighttime feel to it. Check out the skittering percussion, Europop-synths, and soft focus vocals on “Lacking Risk.” This is fever-dreamy stuff.