Musical trio Khruangbin is well known for their blend of classic soul, dub, rock, and psychedelia; the group emerging in 2010 and going strong fourteen years on. 

They’ve played 18 tours to nearly half a million people, selling out iconic venues such as Red Rocks and Radio City Music Hall, the latter twice. 

Two weeks ago, they released their fifth album A La Sala, and just last week they took to the stage at Coachella. 

They have a music-forward approach to their craft, and the group’s drummer DJ Johnson told Newstalk ZB’s Jack Tame that it’s been that way since the start. 

“The music always comes first,” he said. 

Johnson said that the music determines everything that happens in the backend, album titles being one example. 

“We’ve been asked like, ‘what’s the next album gonna be called?’ And it’s like, well, we don’t know yet because the music doesn’t exist yet.” 

They’ve described the album as a creative homecoming of sorts, bassist Laura Lee telling Tame that while the band has grown and evolved, touring the world and playing stadiums, it's nice to strip everything back. 

“The amount of voices and opinions and, you know, tugs and pulls in various directions have grown, and I think there was a desire to just get back to square one.” 

A La Sala is free of collaborations, guests, and features, and although they are proud of the collaborations they’ve made, Lee said it felt like so long since they’d made music just the three of them. 

“As we were getting back to that place, we realised that the creative was in less, and not in more.” 

Johnson said that while it does have the same kind of magic as when they were first making music, the growth and evolution they’ve gone through has impacted it. 

“We went back to more or less the way that we used to approach the material when we first started, but with a renewed sense and a maturity in which we’re approaching it. 

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