Major Lazer: Peace Is the Mission | Album Review

Peace is the Mission
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Artist: Major Lazer
Genre: Electronic
Label: Mad Decent

Originally a collaboration between producers Diplo and Switch, Major Lazer's 2009 debut (the excellent Guns Don't Kill People . . . Lazers Do) featured the likes of Santigold, Amanda Blank, and Vybz Cartel.

There was something of a sea-change after Switch left: 2013's Free the Universe still included some less- obvious collaborators (Dirty Projectors' Amber Coffman), but also featured more commercial artists and sounds.

Peace Is the Mission expands on that further. The cutting-edge production is still there. Lean On features a great vocal from MØ, Roll the Bass is a moody take on rave culture, and Light It Up pleasingly mingles dancehall, 1990s r'n'b and 8-bit.

But Be Together is too silken, and there are missteps with vocalists (such as Ellie Goulding on the syrupy Powerful). There is so much potential here.

Siobhán Kane

Siobhán Kane is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in culture