Hot Chip - Made In The Dark

EMI

Talk about coming on strong – Hot Chip’s third album, Made In The Dark, is a no-holds-barred charm offensive. Give it the slightest encouragement and it will be plying you with bubbly beats, getting you giddy on manic changes in pitch and pace and, resist though you might try, have you cavorting in all sorts of outrageously contorted positions. Please don’t feel cheap, you’re not the only one. Album-by-album, Hot Chip have been inching towards the clutches of the mainstream and whilst Made In The Dark by no means waters down their delightful quirks, it does contain their most instantly accessible collection of songs to date.

It is the realization of everything that the London outfit has been striving towards, an album that criss-crosses the boundaries of musical genre with impunity. It is by befriending music in all its forms that Hot Chip manage to maintain our attention, invigorating the dance-pop formula with a succession of intriguing left-field turns. Time and again, Putney’s bedroom boffins’ deliver with devastating aplomb, for if their previous albums tended towards the scientific – thrilling results, but a little-too controlled – then Made In The Dark sees them embrace poptronica’s poetic side.

There are still plenty of frantic moments which bring to mind primates and miniature symbols – ‘Don’t Dance’, ‘Shake A Fist’ and ‘Ready For The Floor’ – but also tracks which prove Hot Chip are capable of playing it softly, softly to catchy monkey – ‘We’re Looking For A Lot Of Love’, ‘Whistle For Will’ and the sublime title track. This latter trilogy of songs is pop balladry of a most idiosyncratic bent, Alexis Taylor’s poised and placid vocal giving way to expanses of emotion.

Throughout, Made In The Dark is a record rich in feeling, be it unfettered physicality, melancholic contemplation, or sly wit – get a load of ‘Wrestlers’. Contrary to what the title might imply, Made In The Dark is no hapless fumble, but perfectly realised dance-pop, bright, glistening and utterly seductive. Francis Jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DOWNLOAD: ‘READY FOR THE FLOOR’, ‘MADE IN THE DARK’, ‘DON’T DANCE’.
FOR FANS OF: NEW ORDER, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM.

Issue #50 - The Power To Know

Featuring The Top 50 NI Songs of Our Lifetime, The Streets, Deerhoof, Seasick Steve, Fucked Up, Garth Ennis and more.