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Interpreted another way, a khrueang sai is an intimate Thai classical ensemble mostly made of string instruments.
Likewise, Khruangbin makes dreamy, instrumental music with just a guitar, the bass, and drums.
And then theres the khru thats the fans, the hive, the heads.
We cant claim that, says Speer, who plays the guitar.
Thats doing great disservice to the folks who actually make what we in the West call Thai funk.
Khun Narin, or Paradise Bangkok, check them out, those are actual Thai bands playing Thai funk.
They played it constantly.
Khruangbins signature sound funky, jumpy tendrils of guitar, mixed with hazy washes of surf rock remains intact.
But the playlist in their heads has changed.
They absorbed music like that of the glamorous Iranian singerGoogoosh.
I couldnt stop listening to her, Speer says.
I was like, this is it.
As it happens, that part of the world first brought the band together.
Years ago, one day on a lunch break, Lee accompanied a friend to Speers house in Houston.
It was so specific a reference, Lee recalls, that they bonded immediately.
Speer had been playing in bands around Houston, one of which eventually needed a bass player.
Lee didnt play, but Speer thought she could.
In a fit of insomnia, she says, she taught herself how.
Theirs is an unusual sound.
It does a lot and not much at all, carrying layers of foreign references while remaining calm.
Some low-decibel speak-speaking aside, the music is absent of lyrics.
I am not a multilingual person, Speer says.
When we write, Im trying to make my guitar take the place of those vocals.
The songs telegraph something less literal, like the feeling of travel.
Finding funky music from all over the world is my goal, he says.
So Im just trying to find it.
Theres Wrecking Crews of West Africa, Wrecking Crews in the Caribbean, over in France.
Finding those bands that back up everybody can be a good place to start.)
Trained ears might notice the Iranian and Indian references inCon Todo El Mundo.
Sometimes its I studied to your music, and got an A on my finals.
Or I fell in love to your music.
And hula-hooping, Speer adds.
People like to hula-hoop to it.
