I like to consider myself a connoisseur of the chill- out experience. A couple of Bud Lights, something to read, and a stack of drone music records and I'm fine. But while I'm down with the ambient shit, I've finally admitted to myself that I'm not down with Labradford. Plenty of people-- good people-- drool over what these guys have going on. They speak of the subtle beauty of the recordings, the majestic instrumentation, and the beautiful structure of the songs. But the bulk of their output to this point has bored me, and I'm sorry to report that E Luxo So is no different.

In theory, E Luxo So sounds like an interesting exercise in musical restraint. As a whole, it's even more subdued than its far- from- manic predecessors. There's no shift in dynamic range on the record, and there's never either an abundance or lack of "space." Vocals, which have always been spare, have been jettisoned altogether. Subtlety is not only the name of the game on E Luxo So, it's the name of the planet the game is played on. But while there's certainly something to be said for quiet restraint, it can't be defended when the music becomes boring, and that's what happens here.