Mordechai

Japanese Hybrid-SACD pressing. Originally released on June 26, 2020, via Dead Oceans in collaboration with Night Time Stories, Mordechai is the third studio album from Houston trio Khruangbin, featuring Laura Lee Ochoa on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald ""DJ"" Johnson on drums. Following the critical success of The Universe Smiles Upon You and Con Todo El Mundo, and arriving after the collaborative EP Texas Sun with Leon Bridges, the album marks a significant evolution in the band's sound by incorporating vocals across nearly every track, adding a more direct emotional dimension to their famously borderless blend of East Asian surf rock, Persian funk, Jamaican dub, Pakistani, Korean, West African, and Indian musical influences. Inspired in part by a transformative experience Ochoa had while hiking with a family led by a man named Mordechai, the album draws on personal reflections and lyrical expression to deepen the group's richly textured compositions. Written after years of extensive touring across North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia and recorded at their farm studio in Burton, Texas, Mordechai also serves as a celebration of the diverse cultural landscape of Texas, where country, zydeco, trap rap, and avant-garde sounds coexist. Led by the single ""Time (You and I), "" accompanied by a video directed by Felix Heyes and Josh RR King, the album captures a moment of rediscovery and renewal, preserving the beauty of a fleeting journey through Khruangbin's uniquely global yet deeply personal musical vision.