Two-and-a-half a long time into their profession, everybody is aware of The Chemical Brothers are masters of their craft. But it surely’s the long-lasting Manchester duo’s fixed reinvention of their sound, pushing festival-filling dance music additional into the stratosphere, that has stored these dance giants atop the digital music throne.
Whereas the world’s actually modified since their spell-binding 2019 album ‘No Geography’, the genre-traversing pair have been not at all quiet. Publish-lockdown, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons’ NME-hailed fame as one of the best stay dance act has rocketed. Recent from dominating one other summer time’s competition season, the pair return with album 10 – and it’s amongst their greatest. Recorded of their studio close to the south coast however with fields of ravers in thoughts, ‘For That Stunning Feeling’ is full of enormous face-melters that recall 1999’s timeless ‘Hey Boy Hey Lady’ and the pure ecstasy of 1995’s ‘Three Little Birdies Down Beats’ from their seminal debut album ‘Exit Planet Mud’.
Proper from the pumping, drum-led opener ‘Intro’, the tone is about with an otherworldly robotic voice. Then, French artist Halo Maud – the album’s primary collaborative vocalist – ignites pure euphoria as ‘Reside Once more’’s synths hit like lightning. Seamlessly blended into the acid-tinged, laser-fuelled basslines of ‘No Purpose’, that is the Chems at their greatest and most direct: layering futuristic, sci-fi-leaning sonics atop stratospheric construct ups. The latter’s ominous lyrics – “We’ve no cause to stay, When will they kill us all?” – add to the apocalyptic narrative, the sort of tightrope they’ve walked throughout their whole profession.
Although equally hallucinogenic, the album’s center part is extra targeted on taking psych-fuelled journeys than inflicting dancefloor injury. ‘Fountains’ fires off in all instructions, with echoey Tame Impala-style vocals and spiralling Battle Of The Worlds-style sounds, whereas the vivid ‘Magic Wand’ is eerily otherworldly. Contrastingly, reverb-heavy outlier ‘The Weight’ finds a pissed off voice repeating “who’s gonna take the blame?”
The album’s carefree remaining third comparatively soars on optimism. The radio-friendly infatuation of ‘Skipping Like A Stone’, that includes earlier collaborator Beck (see 2015’s ‘Broad Open’ from the darkish and twisted ‘Born In The Echoes’), seamlessly fuses components of pop, indie, rock and dance. Propelled by an ominous siren and large singalong refrain, it’s a stadium-sized anthem.
The gradual embrace of ‘The Darkness That You Worry’ is equally encouraging, as a feminine voice urges, “Let your coronary heart see the colors throughout you… and the darkness that you simply concern will disappear”, earlier than techno juggernaut ‘Feels Like I Am Dreaming’ stimulates each sense.
With their journey to a different realm full, the hypnotic closing observe reinterprets the album’s intro as a chilled descent to Earth, its cinematic synths and ominous drums fading out to depart simply Halo Maud’s a capella vocal – the post-party comedown after an endlessly exhilarating voyage to an digital utopia. On their tenth album, The Chemical Brothers stay one of the best within the enterprise.
Particulars:
- Launch date: September 8
- Report label: EMI
