On Penny Sparkle and Barragan, Blonde Redhead sounded so ephemeral that the music seemed ready to evaporate in an instant. On Sit Down for Dinner, however, the trio bring their quintessentially elegant, mysterious music down to earth. Inspired by death and other separations from loved ones (most notably the passing of Kazu Makinos beloved horse and her distance from her family in Japan during the COVID-19 global pandemic), they seize the moment with a fuller, richer sound and some of their most gripping songs in years. All of this is immediately apparent on the hypnotic opening track "Snowman," which reaches back to the Brazilian sounds that influenced Makino and Simone and Amadeo Paces earliest musical experiments and drapes them in swaying layers of backing vocals and percussion. The largely acoustic palette makes Sit Down for Dinners dreams and fantasies feel more immersive and that much closer to reality than on some of Blonde Redheads other albums; the driving rhythm on the impossibly romantic, Makino-sung standout "Kiss Her Kiss Her" seems to nudge a pair of star-crossed lovers closer to each other. Likewise, the songwriting is just direct enough to keep listeners riveted. "I really care about you," Amadeo sings on "Not for Me," a plain-spoken declaration of devotion to someone faraway that feels eloquent when coupled with its haunting surroundings. "Before" updates the bands wounded chamber pop with tumbling choruses that are as catchy as they are graceful, but Sit Down for Dinners evocative writing allows them to branch out on "I Thought You Should Know," an epic ballad that channels the sweep of "Wild Horses" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with surprising conviction, and "Melody Experiment," where they discover new ways to swoon by fusing dream-pop with trip-hop and dub. Throughout the album, Blonde Redhead give the beauty of their music a newfound ease, even when Makino considers the honor and responsibility of carrying someone in your heart forever once theyre gone on the tender "Rest of Her Life." They also delicately explore closeness and distance on Sit Down for Dinners two-part title track, which drifts by like a ghost before snapping to attention to reflect on mortality ("I know youre tired of living/But dying is not so easy"). In much the same way that 23 felt like a necessary revamping of their music, Sit Down for Dinner finds Blonde Redhead revitalized. Arriving nearly a decade after Barragan and 30 years after they formed, its a return to be savored. ~ Heather Phares

Rovi