StoreThe Chemical Brothers Make a Phenomenal Comeback
While their latest albums have had a more or less positive reception, the duo has never been short of fans at their gigs and sessions. After reading a lukewarm review of one of their projects, you could find people devoted to them while they were performing at Benicassim, to the unanimous call of “Here we go!”.
We received the news directly from them last March when an announcement was put on their website that ‘Further’ would be their most melodic recording to date. It was described as the perfect summary of all electronic music over the last twenty years; but we didn’t believe it. Groups always sell their new albums as the most interesting music on the scene but normally people don’t pay any attention. This time, however, it’s true.
That this is a more melodic album does not mean that it’s replete with 3-minute pop wonders. In the past, the Chemical Brothers have collaborated with artists that have little in common with the world of techno, like Oasis, Midlake, Klaxons and the band that they generally cite as their favourite, New Order. This time, the stunning voice of the folksinger Stephanie Dosen makes a small appearance on some choruses, but there are no outstanding tracks with emotive lyrics that make full use of her talent. ‘Snow’, the opening track, is a very powerful song, but is limited with the simple repetition of ‘your love keeps lifting me higher’ over and over again.
One of the album’s strong points is that each song has the same hypnotic effect on several different levels. Many of these effects are a reflection of musical tendencies used throughout the duo’s career, which represents, therefore, an additional summary of electronic music over recent decades. ‘Horse Power’ is pure techno music and a treat for any DJ alongside the classic ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’. ‘Another World’ is a track that any hip-hop fan who enjoys classics like ‘Common’ or ‘Kanye West’ will love. ‘Dissolve’ or ‘K+d+b’ could easily feature Primal Scream, who have already collaborated in ‘Swastika Eyes’.
The utterly dreamlike tracks ‘Escape Velocity‘, the longest track that has ever been featured on one of their albums (lasting eleven minutes and fifty-seven seconds), are a considerable improvement on the disappointing ‘We Are The Night’. If it wasn’t enough that Tom and Ed are as good as in the ‘Dig Your Own Hole’ and ‘Surrender’ era, they have decided to release the album, featuring only eight songs, with a visuals DVD that accompanies each track, carried out by Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall, as always. This is probably the closest to a Chemical Brothers live performance, without turning to their greatest hits, that you can take home in a little box.
Sebas / Je ne sais pop.
