Bombastic drums and live instruments glitched and deconstructed around swirling pop melodies culminate into the soundtrack to an all-nighter. Prepare the confetti bombs.

In a two-step process that begins with challenging pop songwriting and serpentine playing, Einmo ultimately becomes a manic-DJ chopping and slicing on his own material and peppering it with field recordings made while traveling the US and Japan on tour. The result sounds like a joyride of timeless pop songs blaring from your car radio, while an electronic Krautrock band destroys the club you’re passing and hip-hop simultaneously pounds out of the Jeep breathing down your neck at the light.

“I don’t shy away from mixing different elements together,” says Einmo, with one foot on a fog machine, and the other tangled up in a trademark red and black boa, while crowd sweat drips off his sequencer. “I approach the music as a DJ, except instead of sampling other artists’ vinyl, I’m sampling my own playing and then peppering it with lots of fun guests in the studio. I think some people are sort of baffled by an album that has several different vocalists and mixes electronic, indie rock and hip hop into one record. But that’s the point. It’s intended to sound like an underground radio playlist for Saturday night’s drive to the party.”

It’s a ride that started in 2006. Marrying a love of progressive electronic production and instrumental wizardry with a spot-on knack for writing great pop hooks, Head Like A Kite debuted that year with the Pattern 25 release, Random Portraits of the Home Movie, a universally praised album built around samples from family Super-8 home movies from the 70s. The success

of the album led to tours of the US and Japan (with projector in tow) and an appearance on MTV2's "On The Rise" and NPR’s Weekend America, and songs placed on CNN, Fuel TV, VH1, MTV2, and more. Head Like A Kite continued the climb with a move to LA-based electronic label Mush for the summer 2008 release, There Is Loud Laughter Everywhere, which debuted in the CMJ Top 50, and charted #1 at influential stations such as KEXP. Building on HLAK's found sound meets electronic rock framework with unquestionable expertise, the new album Dreams Suspend Night delivers an enthusiastic party popper.

“If I had only one word to describe the album, I’d choose “festive,” says Einmo. “This record captures my enthusiasm for recording live instruments and then deconstructing the songs into electronic-pop bliss.”

In concert, Head Like A Kite throws the party: Fog machines occlude tossed and torn furry stuffed animals being thrown among the fans, as Einmo and live drummer Trent Moorman stomp and sweat inside art theater and a floor-bending dance party. At venues and festivals, HLAK ties epic pop-soul overflow into sunny glitchy beats, sounding like a soulful, gut-punching underground rock band remixed by “Entroducing”-era DJ Shadow hopped up on Red Bull and DFA records.

Dreams Suspend Night was mastered by Dave Cooley (Danger Mouse, Silversun Pickups, Polyphonic Spree, Madlib, Prefuse 73) in Los Angeles, and recorded in Seattle at Electrokitty Studios.


WATCH VIDEO: “Director’s Cut” (directed by Chase Jarvis)