By Luca Medina-Downs

September 28, 2020

Funk trio Khruangbin’s third album, “Mordechai”, showcases the band’s chemistry and craft as a band. Their singular blend of funk, R&B, psychedelia and world music almost evades categorization, and has garnered growing popularity over the past decade. Their past two studio outings, “The Universe Smiles Upon You” (2015) and “Con Todo El Mundo” (2018) featured Thai and Middle Eastern influences on mainly instrumental tracks, but the gentle introduction of both English and Spanish vocals on a handful of “Mordechai’s” songs is a welcome addition to their sound.

The guitar, bass, and drums trio, whose name means “airplane” in Thai, are based out of Houston and have been playing together for just over 10 years. Their deeply world music-influenced sound is something of a rarity in a sea full of straight ahead funk/soul bands, which may be why they resonate with a large audience. “Con Todo El Mundo” reached #82 on the UK’s Top Albums Chart, and Mordechai reached #31 in the United States and #7 in the United Kingdom. The band had plans to play at the Glastonbury festival in England this summer, but they were cut short due to COVID-19. According to setlist.fm, they played 74 concerts in 2019, and 104 in 2018 across North America, Asia, Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America. They also released a collaborative extended play with Grammy-nominated R&B artist, Leon Bridges, in February.

Even with their newfound success, they tend to stray away from the spotlight. Both guitarist Mark Speer and bassist Laura Lee wear wigs onstage and in interviews, and are absent on any forms of social media. Speer habitually dodges rock and roll as an influence, thinking of it as “terrible” from a young age (Premier Guitar). Speer and Lee initially formed a bond through their love of Thai and Middle Eastern music, and brought drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson onboard after him and Speer having met in a church band in 2004. DJ is a bit of an outlier in the band; he is a hip-hop producer on the side, once remarking that “if there’s a hip-hop band in Houston, I’ve worked with them (KEXP).” Even while all meeting in Houston, their sound blends all four corners of the world, and they truly come into their own on “Mordechai.”