“If you think of music as a moving, changing form, and painting as a still form, what I’m trying to do is make very still music and paintings that move. I’m trying to find in both of those forms, the space in between the traditional concept of music and the traditional concept of painting”: BRIAN ENO
‘Music For Installations’ is a multi-album collection of new, rare and previously unreleased tracks from BRIAN ENO, recorded since 1986 for use in his art installations experimenting with light and video which have taken place all over the world including Russia, China and Australia.
It was an concept that was first realised on ‘Thursday Afternoon’ in 1984, an 82 minute audio / visual presentation comprising of video paintings of actress Christine Alicino which were filmed in a vertical format, so that they had to be viewed using a television turned onto its side. In a strange way, Eno foresaw the advent of smart phone videos which are now presented online in this fashion, rather than in the more traditional landscape format.
Spread out over 6 CDs or 9 vinyl albums if you prefer the lengthy mood (which is essential in effective ambient music) to be broken by having to flip the record, the various works gathered on ‘Music For Installations’ are for the most part equal to Eno’s best ambient opuses like ‘Discreet Music’, ‘Music for Airports’, ‘Apollo’, ‘Neroli’, ‘Lux’ and ‘Reflection’.
On CD1, ‘Kazakhstan’ recalls the serene beauty of ‘Reflection’, but there are more synthesizer sweeps than most might be used to with Eno. ‘The Ritan Bells’ does as it says on the tin with beautiful ringing reverbed tones reminiscent of ‘Neroli’ but using sharper accents. ‘Five Light Paintings’ is darker and more sombre with a nautical aura like Jarre’s ‘Waiting For Cousteau’ or Eno’s own ‘Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960’ but extended over 20 minutes. Concluding CD1 with ‘Flower Bells’, this develops on ‘The Ritan Bells’ but with more sustain and acoustic sounding textures.
‘77 Million Paintings’ (which takes up the whole of CD2) will be familiar to Enoists as ‘Ikebukuro’ from 1992’s ‘The Shutov Assembly’, but tripled in length with manipulated distortion and robot larynx added. CD3’s two offerings are on the more placid side; ‘Atmospheric Lightness’ has much less happening than the other pieces of ‘Music For Installations’ with it being much more minimal and impressionistic, while its sister ‘Chamber Lightness’ drifts along like a sound painting.
With CD4, the soothing ‘I Dormienti’ is not dissimilar to ‘Neroli’ boosted with cascading piano runs and vocal samples. The three part ‘Kites’ suite features gently ringing aural sculptures, although the slightly longer third variant adds environmental atmospheres and generative voices.
The surprise comes with CD5 which is fragmented like ‘Music For Films’. With a rhythmic base, the opening track ‘Needle Click’ is quietly tribal and by modern Eno standards, comparatively uptempo with a gorgeous synth melody making it almost like VANGELIS.
Indeed, this collection of shorter pieces is lively, with the arpeggio laden ‘Light Legs’ being more akin to soundtracks like ‘Stranger Things’. Meanwhile piano and guitar make their presence felt respectively on ‘Flora and Fauna / Gleise 581d’ and ‘New Moons’. ’Hopeful Timean Intersect’ even features acoustic six string within the pensive tension, while there’s some unexpected choral assisted drama in ‘Delightful Universe’.
CD6 offers up the unsurprisingly spacey ‘Unnoticed Planet’ while both ‘Liquidambar’ and ‘Sour Evening’ are starkly minimal, although the latter brings some shimmering qualities to the wavetable. Bringing proceedings to a close, the sub-18 minute ‘Surbahar Sleeping Music’ is almost atonal and unsettling in places.
For most people, this lavish boxed set is probably too much Eno, but then it is not aimed at them. However, for his many admirers and fans, ‘Music For Installations’ will be loved, cherished and smelt as a highly essential collector’s item.
‘Music For Installations’ is released worldwide by Universal Music on 4th May 2018 as a 6 CD super deluxe limited edition numbered box set including 64 page Plexiglass cover book, 9 LP super deluxe edition vinyl box set with 64 page book plus download key or 6 CD standard edition box set with 64 page book, available from https://www.enoshop.co.uk
Named after a wonderfully eclectic song from the first ROXY MUSIC album, appropriately it was Brian Eno who said that LADYTRON were “the best of English pop music”.
Despite Eno’s description, one of the most distinctive aspects of LADYTRON is their diversity, with Bulgarian-born Mira Aroyo and Glaswegian Helen Marnie joining Liverpudlians Danny Hunt and Reuben Wu in Summer 1999.
It will be released via Pledge Music, the crowdfunding platform which was used by Helen Marnie to support the recording of her debut solo offering ‘Crystal World’.
The new LADYTRON album has been launched with ‘The Animals’, a dark electronic rock number in the vein of ‘High Rise’, ‘International Dateline’ and ‘Tomorrow’ which also comes with a Vince Clarke remix.
With all systems go in the LADYTRON camp, Danny Hunt kindly took time out from the studio to chat about the new album, his favourite synths and his own career highlights.
When did the genesis for the first LADYTRON album in 7 years begin? Was it a gradual process?
We knew we were going to do it eventually, but various things made it not come together as early as we imagined. Huge changes in our personal lives, and our locations – two of us moved across hemispheres. In mid-2016, we felt ready to move ahead and began writing and planning.
Was there any point where you personally thought there might not be another album?
That was never a possibility.
Helen did two solo albums, but what were the rest of you up to during the hiatus? You co-produced Helen’s first solo offering?
Yes, I produced and co-wrote some of Helen’s first one. Since then, I’ve worked with some other artists that I felt a creative connection with, for example last year I co-wrote and produced an EP ‘Lua Vermelha’ with a very special artist in Brazil called LIA PARIS. I also produced LUSH’s comeback EP ‘Blind Spot’, which I loved doing. Other than that, film scores and some other things that’ll see the light of day soon enough.
Reuben has been concentrating on his photography, he’s built a big reputation with that.
Mira has been working a lot with documentaries which was always a love of hers. We’re generally creative people, and were never solely focussed on one project.
The individual members all live in different parts of the world now, so in terms of writing, has there had to be a more remote approach by necessity?
As it always was, even with the first five records we never lived in the same city, or at times even country, there were only brief moments when more than two of us did. Eighty percent of the time we weren’t living in the same place. The method is the same regardless of distance; we work, collaborate remotely and then come together for a period to turn the work we’ve done individually and collaboratively into a record.
How would you describe the creative dynamic of LADYTRON and how it has evolved over the years?
These days everyone is pretty much self-contained. Technology has changed enormously after all, when we began it was a different world in so many ways. And we were basically children playing around with brand new methods.
‘The Animals’ is the first single and appears to be a return to the harder, more intense sound of ‘Witching Hour’ and ‘Velocifero’?
Perhaps, but it’s still too new to judge.
Vince Clarke has remixed ‘The Animals’, how did he become involved and are you pleased with his quite different and more rigid interpretation?
I love it. I always wanted us to collaborate in some way with him. It came about when I remixed the ERASURE single last year.
After the textural atmospherics of ‘Gravity The Seducer’, is ‘The Animals’ representative of the new album’s overall sound? If not, how would you describe it?
Well the album isn’t finished, the songs are there but it has a long way to go. To me, it is difficult to describe beyond simply that it sounds very much like a LADYTRON record.
How do you now look back on ‘Gravity The Seducer’?
Very proud of it. It was intentionally more sedate, which was exactly what we wanted, needed at that time. Some of the tunes on it, such as ‘White Gold’ and ‘Transparent Days’, are amongst my favourite things we’ve done. I’ve had people whom I really respect tell me that they didn’t get into any of our stuff until that record.
The way music is financed and consumed has changed considerably since 2011 with crowdfunding and streaming more prominent. What are your own thoughts on this?
I don’t have strong feelings on any of this. I am rather traditionalist in this respect.
You’ve opted to market the new album via Pledge Music, had the band been drawn to it from Helen’s positive experience of it?
In our case, it is an ideal way to make records independently.
Being on Pledge Music often involves providing fly-on-the-wall insights into the recording process and other benefits, like CHINA CRISIS offered an opportunity to see Liverpool FC match with a band member while GARY NUMAN sold his old gear. As a band who have generally not courted a personality based profile in the past, have you decided what types of updates you will do yet?
We don’t know yet.
You’re offering vinyl, CD and download versions of the new album, but also cassette! Have you got your head around why there’s a resurgence in this format, what are your own memories of using cassettes?
I’m of the generation for whom the cassette was the format of choice, I never accepted that it went away.
Isn’t there just a general longing for actual objects now that our digital lives can evaporate in a moment?
And is not just in the case of records, for example I now buy more actual books than I ever did. We need to leave the historians some physical record of our culture.
Have you added any more vintage synthesizers to your armoury for the new album or have you moved towards VSTs these days? Do you have a particular favourite synth?
We have all our old toys and a couple of new ones. I had to transport as much of my gear as I could halfway across the world to fit my studio out down here. Each time I returned home, I brought a few more things south with me. I love my Crumar Stratus, that and the SH-2 are my main instruments.
What do you think about these recreations like the Korg MS20 Mini, the Korg ARP Odyssey or the new Minimoog?
About 15 years ago, we begged Korg to make a new MS20. We insisted that if they were available, they’d become as ubiquitous in studios as a bass guitar.
So I’m all for this gear being available in a cheap, practical and reliable way. We sometimes used to burn through old analogue synths every couple of days on the road – rare gear we had collected over many years.
As LADYTRON’s guitarist, how do decide when it’s best to integrate the instrument into proceedings?
I’m a keyboardist, guitarist, bassist whatever. To me, through a chain of effects, it’s just another object that makes noise.
Are you self-producing the album or have you brought in an outsider for this?
We have people we trust and work with regularly. How we are going to approach this one is still being discussed.
Are you able to reveal any of your own personal highlights of the new album? What are your hopes and fears after 7 years away?
It’s early days to talk about highlights as there are still tracks being worked on. All I’d say is that we are already very happy with how it is progressing.
Do LADYTRON intend to tour the new album?
Yes, we will, but the most important thing for us is to make a new record. Once that is done we will think about everything else.
Which territories have generally been your strongest?
Besides the US, Canada, Spain and various countries in the EU, we always did well in South and Central America. But we’ve been all over. Australia. China. It is hard to say which is strongest because obviously everyone does more shows in the EU and North America, where we have always done well with our tours.
What’s your proudest achievement as a member of LADYTRON? Any particular songs, shows or tours?
Sydney Opera House for Brian Eno was special obviously. When something exceptional happens – like we played China when very few had, and in Colombia at a time when almost no artists would go there because of the civil war – those ones stick in the memory.
I’m simply proud that our work has reached people, that we’ve made five albums and we’re making another.
ELECTRICITY CLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Danny Hunt
The world found itself in a rather antagonistic and divisive state this year, as if none of the lessons from the 20th Century’s noted conflicts and stand-offs had been learnt.
Subtle political messages came with several releases; honorary Berliner Mark Reeder used the former divided city as symbolism to warn of the dangers of isolationism on his collaborative album ‘Mauerstadt’. Meanwhile noted Francophile Chris Payne issued the ELECTRONIC CIRCUS EP ‘Direct Lines’ with its poignant warning of nuclear apocalypse in its title song. The message was to unite and through music as one of the best platforms.
After a slow start to 2017, there was a bumper crop of new music from a number of established artists. NINE INCH NAILS and Gary Numan refound their mojo with their respective ‘Add Violence’ and ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ releases, with the latter recording his best body of work since his imperial heyday.
But the first quarter of the year was hamstrung by the anticipation for the 14th DEPECHE MODE long player ‘Spirit’, with other labels and artists aware that much of their potential audience’s hard earned disposable income was being directed towards the Basildon combo’s impending album and world tour. Yet again, reaction levels seemed strangely muted as ‘Spirit’ was another creative disappointment, despite its angry politicised demeanour.
Rumours abounded that the band cut the album’s scheduled recording sessions by 4 weeks. This inherent “that’ll do” attitude continued on the ‘Global Spirit’ jaunt when the band insulted their loyal audience by doing nothing more than plonking an arena show into a stadium for the summer outdoor leg.
Despite protestations from some Devotees of their dissatisfaction with this open-air presentation, they were content to be short-changed again as they excitedly flocked to the second set of European arena dates with the generally expressed excuse that “it will be so much better indoors”.
By this Autumn sojourn, only three songs from ‘Spirit’ were left in the set, thus indicating that the dire record had no longevity and was something of a lemon. Suspicions were finally confirmed at the ‘Mute: A Visual Document’ Q&A featuring Daniel Miller and Anton Corbijn, when the esteemed photographer and visual director confessed he did not like the album which he did the artwork for… see, it’s not just ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK 😉
Devotees are quick to say all criticism of DEPECHE MODE is unfair, but the band can’t help but make themselves easy targets time and time again. But why should the band care? The cash is coming, the cash is coming…
Luckily, veteran acts such as OMD and Alison Moyet saved the day. The Wirral lads demonstrated what the word spirit actually meant on their opus ‘The Punishment Of Luxury’, while the former class mate of Messrs Gore and Fletcher demonstrated what a soulful, blues-influenced electronic record should sound like with ‘Other’.
As Tony Hadley departed SPANDAU BALLET and Midge Ure got all ‘Orchestrated’ in the wake of ULTRAVOX’s demise, the ‘Welcome To The Dancefloor’ album directed by Rusty Egan, to which they contributed, became a physical reality in 2017.
Now if DM plonked an arena show into the world’s stadiums, KRAFTWERK put a huge show into a theatre. The publicity stunt of 2012, when Tate Modern’s online ticket system broke down due to demand for their eight album live residency, did its job when the Kling Klang Quartett sold out an extensive UK tour for their 3D concert spectacular.
No less impressive, SOULWAX wowed audiences with their spectacular percussion heavy ‘From Deewee’ show and gave a big lesson to DEPECHE MODE as to how to actually use live drums correctly within an electronic context.
Mute Artists were busy with releases from ERASURE, LAIBACH and ADULT. but it was GOLDFRAPP’s ‘Silver Eye’ that stole the show from that stable. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM returned after seven years with their ‘American Dream’ and it was worth the wait, with the most consistent and electronic record that James Murphy’s ensemble has delivered in their career.
To say Neil Arthur was prolific in 2017 would be an understatement as he released albums with BLANCMANGE and FADER while Benge, a co-conspirator on both records, worked with I SPEAK MACHINE to produce ‘Zombies 1985’ which was one of the best electronic albums of the year; and that was without the JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS stage play soundtrack ‘The Machines’.
Despite JAPAN having disbanded in 1982, solo instrumental releases from Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri were particularly well-received, while David Sylvian made a return of sorts, guesting on ‘Life Life’ for ‘async’, the first album from Ryuichi Sakamoto since recovering from his illness. On the more esoteric front, Brian Eno presented the thoughtful ambience of ‘Reflection’, while THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP had ‘Burials In Several Earths’.
2017 was a year that saw acts who were part of the sine wave of Synth Britannia but unable to sustain or attain mainstream success like BLUE ZOO, B-MOVIE, FIAT LUX and WHITE DOOR welcomed back as heroes, with their talent belatedly recognised. Germany had something of a renaissance as veterans Zeus B Held and ex-TANGERINE DREAM member Steve Schroyder came together in DREAM CONTROL as another TD offshoot QUAESCHNING & SCHNAUSS offered up some impressive ‘Synthwaves’, while there actually was a new TANGERINE DREAM album, their first without late founder member Edgar Froese.
The Swedish synth community again delivered with DAILY PLANET, PAGE, REIN, VANBOT, ANNA ÖBERG, 047 and LIZETTE LIZETTE all delivering fine bodies of work, although KITE were missed, with their German tour cancelled and release of their ‘VII’ EP postponed due to vocalist Nicklas Stenemo’s illness; ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK wishes him all the best in his recovery.
Across the Baltic Sea, Finnish producer Jori Hulkkonen released his 20th album ‘Don’t Believe In Happiness’ while nearby in Russia, a duo named VEiiLA showcased an unusual hybrid of techno, opera and synthpop and ROSEMARY LOVES A BLACKBERRY offered a ‘❤’.
One of the year’s discussion points was whether Synthwave was just synthpop dressed with sunglasses and neon signs but whatever, Stateside based Scots but Michael Oakley and FM-84 made a good impression with their retro-flavoured electronic tunes. It wasn’t all about the expats and in a territory as big as North America, there came a number of up-and-coming home grown electronic artists with LOST IN STARS, PARALLELS, PATTERN LANGUAGE, SPACEPRODIGI, COMPUTER MAGIC and BATTLE TAPES all gaining traction.
Canada’s PURITY RING infuriated some of their fanbase by working with KATY PERRY on three tracks for her album ‘Witness’. AESTHETIC PERFECTION’s new singles only policy was paying dividends and the Electro Mix of ‘Rhythm + Control’, which featured the promising newcomer NYXX, was one of the best tracks of 2017.
Female solo artists had strong presence in 2017 as FEVER RAY made an unexpected return, ZOLA JESUS produced her best work to date in ‘Okovi’ and Hannah Peel embarked on an ambitious synth / brass ‘Journey to Cassiopeia’. Meanwhile, SARAH P. asked ‘Who Am I’ and MARNIE found ‘Strange Words & Weird Wars’ as ANI GLASS and NINA both continued on their promising developmental path.
Respectively, Ireland and Scotland did their bit, with TINY MAGNETIC PETS and their aural mix of SAINT ETIENNE and KRAFTWERK successfully touring with OMD in support of their excellent second album ‘Deluxe/Debris’, while formed out of the ashes of ANALOG ANGEL, RAINLAND wowed audiences opening for ASSEMBLAGE 23. Other new(ish) acts making a positive impression this year included KNIGHT$, MOLINA, ANNEKA, SOFTWAVE, THE FRIXION and KALEIDA.
Despite getting a positive response, both iEUROPEAN and SOL FLARE parted ways while on the opposite side of the coin, Belgian passengers METROLAND celebrated five years in the business with the lavish ‘12×12’ boxed set
Overall in 2017, it was artists of a more mature disposition who held their heads high and delivered, as some newer acts went out of their way to test the patience of audiences by drowning them in sleep while coming over like TRAVIS on VSTs.
With dominance of media by the three major labels, recognition was tricky with new quality traditional synthpop not generally be championed by the mainstream press. With Spotify now 20% owned by those three majors, casual listeners to the Swedish streaming platform were literally told what to like, as with commercial radio playlists.
It is without doubt that streaming and downloading has created a far less knowledgeable music audience than in previous eras, so Rusty Egan’s recent online petition to request platforms to display songwriting and production credits was timely; credit where credit is due as they say…
While ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK does not dismiss Spotify totally and sees it as another tool, it should not be considered the be all and end all, in the same way vinyl is not the saviour of the music industry and in physics terms, cannot handle the same dynamic range as CD. Music is not as emotionally valued as it was before… that’s not being old and nostalgic, that is reality. It can still be enjoyed with or without a physical purchase, but for artists to be motivated to produce work that can connect and be treasured, that is another matter entirely.
However, many acts proved that with Bandcamp, the record company middle man can be eliminated. It is therefore up to the listener to be more astute, to make more effort and to make informed choices. And maybe that listener has to seek out reliable independent media for guidance.
However, as with the shake-up within the music industry over the last ten years, that can only be a good thing for the true synthpop enthusiast. And as it comes close to completing its 8th year on the web, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK maintains its position of not actually promoting new acts or supporting any scene, but merely to write about the music it likes and occasionally stuff it doesn’t… people can make their own mind up about whether to invest money or time in albums or gigs.
Yes, things ARE harder for the listener and the musician, but the effort is worthwhile 😉
If Gustav Holst had composed ‘The Planets Op32’ suite today, would he have used synthesizers within his framework?
With his interest in astrology and thus the future, the answer is probably a “yes”. Just a year after her acclaimed second album ‘Awake But Always Dreaming’, Hannah Peel follows-up with a striking seven movement instrumental opus entitled ‘Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia’, featuring an array of analogue synthesizers and a 29-piece colliery brass band recorded live at the Barnsley Civic Theatre.
It tells the story of Mary Casio, a fictional elderly musical stargazer and her lifelong dream to leave her terraced home in the mining town of Barnsley to journey into space to see Cassiopeia, the constellation in the northern sky named after the vain queen in Greek mythology who boasted about her unrivalled beauty.
Peel played trombone as a youngster and it was during a day off in Yorkshire during her tour with EAST INDIA YOUTH, while watching a parade of marching brass bands that she fell back in love with the sound. It inspired a collaborative template that tied in with her own musical ethos of blending the traditional world with the electronic world.
Using research from conversations with astronomer Marek Kukula and books on theoretical physics, Peel says of her concept: “I wanted these huge slabs of planetary sounds to echo the excitement and wonder of our human need to explore and develop. Outer space is where only a select few can reach; yet it is somewhere we dream of going…”
‘Octavia’ from ‘Awake But Always Dreaming’ already signalled the format’s possibilities with its cascading woodwinds and brass combining with a buzzing barrage of electronics, sounding not unlike Philip Glass reinterpreting something off OMD’s ‘Dazzle Ships’!
Beginning with the lift-off of ‘Goodbye Earth’, electronic arpeggios and traces of synthetic noise build up to a crescendo of brass and timpani. It perhaps the one track where the synths overtly dominate but with the remaining six compositions, the Sci-Fi fantasy tale ‘Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia’ gives equal credence to two quite different musical worlds
The sombre brass interludes of ‘Sunrise Through The Dusty Nebula’ provide a drifting ambience with eerie vocal nuances from Miss Peel herself, but on ‘Deep Space Cluster’, the brass band provide the arpeggios as fuzzy synths and bass drones lock-in for some combined energy transfer.
A cerebral start with distorted voice sources on ‘Andromeda M31’ masks a progressively swirly and percussive piece reminiscent of Brian Eno and Vangelis with their own space related adventures. Meanwhile, the sparse ‘Life Is On The Horizon’ gently rings like a beacon signalling to Planet Earth and enhanced by the soothing harmony of the brass players, like an alternate theme to ‘The Sky At Night’. Rhythmically busy in comparison, ‘Archid Orange Dwarf’ cascades with synths while Peel’s staccato ad-libs and the intensification of the traditional elements shape this inter-planetary soundscape.
The expansive emotionally charged drama of ‘The Planet Of Passed Souls’ closes the journey and following a music box interlude, throws in the symphonic overtones of Antonín Dvořák while also touchingly ending with a scratchy sample from a 1928 recording of Peel’s own choirboy grandfather in Manchester Cathedral.
An enjoyable melancholic exploration in sound, ‘Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia’ is an intriguing listen that experiments with and blends seemingly incongruous timbres.
It also marks Hannah Peel as an artist of many dimensions and with the potential to sustain a musical career in a variety of fields for many years to come.
2017 live shows for ‘Mary Casio: Journey To Cassiopeia’ include:
Liverpool Philharmonic Concert Hall (23rd September), Stockton The Arc (30th September), Barnsley Civic Theatre Tickets (21st October), Basingstoke The Anvil Concert Hall (28th October)
Hannah Peel opens for Alison Moyet on her ‘Other’ UK tour, dates include:
Gateshead Sage (31st October), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (1st November), Edinburgh Usher Hall (2nd November), Ipswich Regent Theatre (4th November), Reading Hexagon (5th November), Oxford New Theatre (7th November), Birmingham Symphony Hall (9th November), Southend Cliffs Pavilion (11th November), Cambridge Corn Exchange (12th November), London Palladium (14th November), London Palladium (15th November), Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre (16th November), Cardiff St David’s Hall (18th November), York Barbican (19th November), Liverpool Royal Philharmonic Hall (20th November), Manchester Bridgewater Hall (22nd November), Bristol Colston Hall (23rd November), Warwick Arts Centre (24th November), Nottingham Royal Concert Hall (26th November), Aylesbury Waterside Theatre (27th November), Southampton 02 Guildhall (28th November)
James Murphy has never been afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve. In the past, TALKING HEADS, JOY DIVISION, KRAFTWERK and DAFT PUNK have been mined for LCD SOUNDSYSTEM.
Seven years after the acclaimed album ‘This Is Happening’ which featured the wonderful ERASURE meets ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN electronic pop of ‘I Can Change’, the Brooklyn new romantic with an industrial edge continues his magpie ways with a new long player ‘American Dream’.
The title song previewed earlier this year is possibly a musical statement reflecting on the political situation in the US. But Murphy also glances across the Atlantic and back to the Winter Of Discontent and this widescreen 3/4 synth laden tune that has more than a passing resemblance to THE HUMAN LEAGUE’s ‘Circus Of Death’.
So did ‘The Clown’ referred to in that song remind Murphy of someone in particular? Older viewers will be half expecting London Weekend Television’s Peter Lewis to quip in with his “In just a few moments, we’re off to Hawaii to join Steve McGarrett and the team for tonight’s adventure…” introduction.
After a long gestation period and questions as to whether LCD SOUNDSYSTEM were actually out of hiatus, the fourth studio album is finally out with Murphy’s desire for the it to be available on vinyl on the same day as the digital format being one of the reasons stated for this delay. He said: “I insist that there is vinyl on the day it’s released (because… well… because I’m an old person)”
It’s this aged anxiety and a fraught midlife headspace that colours this whole album; “I promise you this; you’re getting older” he exclaims on ‘Tonite’ over a squiggly bassline laden tune that mixes NEW ORDER with John Grant, before adding ”You’ve lost your internet and we’ve lost our memory”. But it all begins with ‘Oh Baby’, a dreamy blip and buzz fest to an obscure offbeat and pretty synth shades, with echoes of Ian McCulloch in Murphy’s vocal phrasing before the album’s first highlight.
‘Other Voices’ borrows heavily from TALKING HEADS ‘Remain In Light’ opus as Murphy acts like a preacher chanting “You’re still like a baby” over some hypnotic rhythmic backing modulating around a single chord. With some brilliant infinite guitar soloing along for the ride, Nancy Whang counterpoints with an assured rap to finish this superb slice of cerebral art funk. Meanwhile ‘Change Yr Mind’ has as much talk as it does head although at a much steadier pace, with some choppy guitar as well as the spectre of Eno’s ‘No-One Receiving’ looming.
Taking things in a more post-punk direction, ‘I Used To’ is in the vein of THE CURE with the scratchy minimal guitar and resonant bass cocoon penetrated by lashings of icy synth. This mood continues via the 9 minute Gothic gloom of ‘How Do You Sleep?’; shaped by a brooding percussive mantra and aggressive synth wobbles, it explodes with a live drum track as the claustrophobic grandeur of PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED makes its presence felt with Murphy shouting to a newly crowned foe: “I remember when we were friends, I remember calling you friend…”
‘Call The Police’ also looks towards post-punk and although more guitar oriented, comes over like the lost NEW ORDER single ‘Procession’ gone Motorik. The frantic ‘Emotional Haircut’ is the most live of the all tracks, with full band thrash out JOY DIVISION style, complimented by some impressive drumming by Pat Mahoney.
Concluding with the very long and grief ridden ‘Black Screen’, it is almost like OMD with its detuned abstract melodies and mournful harmonic air of Eno. Murphy’s musical farewell to Bowie, he turned down the production role for ‘Blackstar’ and his sadness is expressed with a forlorn declaration that “I had fear in the room, so I stopped turning up but I should have tried more” – it beautifully progresses into a treated piano section reminiscent of appropriately ‘Lebwohl’ by NEU! to end on a solemn note.
Like OMD’s ‘The Punishment Of Luxury’, ‘American Dream’ is LCD SOUNDSYSTEM’s most electronic album yet. It will surprise some and disappoint others, but after the mixed promises of ‘Sound Of Silver’ and ‘This Is Happening’, James Murphy and his ensemble have finally delivered on that ‘synth heavy’ album that many have been longing for.
‘American Dream’ is released by Columbia Records / Sony Music in vinyl, CD and digital formats
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM UK 2017 live dates include:
Manchester Warehouse Project (16th-17th September), Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom (19th-20th September), London Alexandra Palace (22nd-23rd September)
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
, 
, 
, 
and 
under their belt, 
.
, Hannah Peel follows-up with a striking seven movement instrumental opus entitled 
, featuring an array of analogue synthesizers and a 29-piece colliery brass band recorded live at the Barnsley Civic Theatre.
is released by Columbia Records / Sony Music in vinyl, CD and digital formats
Follow Us!