Sounds of the Satellites

Laika's second album, Sounds of the Satellites, combines ambient melodies and pop lyrics with thick, complex jazz percussion and dub-style bass rhythms. Catchy bass lines snap your ears to attention as well-syncopated and driving drums fill out the rest of the rhythm. Layered on top of this, Margaret Fiedler's haunting voice chimes in as a solid melody, dancing at the top of the harmonic range; expands and contracts, filling and amplifying the points where her voice fades for another breath. --Ryan Kuykendall