Khruangbin – “Pelota”

Tamsin Isaacs

Khruangbin – “Pelota”

Tamsin Isaacs

Earlier this year, the funky and psychedelic Houston trio Khruangbin teamed up with fellow Texan Leon Bridges for the impressive collaborative EP Texas Sun. In a week and a half, Khruangbin will follow it up when they release Mordechai, a new full-length album of their very own. We’ve already posted the lovely early singles “Time (You And I)” and “So We Won’t Forget.” Today, Khruangbin have dropped a third song on us.

The new track “Pelota” isn’t as dazed or contemplative as the first two singles. Instead, it’s a rippling, percussive workout — more on the funk side of what the trio does, less on the psychedelic tip. The title is Spanish for “ball,” and it’s also the name of a Basque game that’s kind of like racquetball. In a press release, Khruangbin call themselves “a Texan band with a Thai name singing a song in Spanish, loosely based on a Japanese movie.” (They don’t say what the Japanese movie is. I would like to know!)

Director Hugo Rodríguez Rodríguez has made an animated video for “Pelota.” It’s a largely abstract affair, showing a human form floating over borders and through space. Check it out below.

Mordechai is out 6/26 on Dead Oceans/Night Time Stories, Ltd.

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