Ever since he started as indie kids Hot Chip apparently dabbling in classic soul and contemporary R & B, that’ve been overlooked (not least of which by us). Provide line on”20-inch wheels”and”Yo La Tengo”with a proper English accent, as they made their debut in 2005, can have that effect. Yet, their next two albums - 2006’s The Warning and 2008’s Made In The Dark - Hot Chip steadily rebuilt their reputation in strengthening their side sophistipop. Their melodies, he began to develop an itchy, nervous tic, and have gained credibility through association with DFA dancefloor.
Best of all, Hot Chip crafted some of the Earworms more subtle and more effective in all - the songs seem deceptively simple and hiring the first hearing has become year-end list locks to listen to number 10. Their eccentric detours, winks and nods were no longer Prince and Stevie Wonder Shoutouts: instead, they were more subtle, so the band, which initially ran into tablets affable eventually revealed to be the smartest guys in the room. In short, after half a decade of defying our expectations and hesitations of them is erased, finally felt like we knew they were Hot Chip. But their fourth album, One Life Stand, changes things a bit ‘. After dialing back some of their eccentricities, their ultimate feel if anything even more likely to be underestimated.
Strangely, this is probably their best record yet. If you’ll agreement will depend on what you want from Hot Chip and what you want from an album. One Life Stand is their most consistent and comprehensive registration, but it’s missing an A-list only on par with”Boy From School “,”Over and Over” or”Ready for the Floor”. It’s also missing pieces of dance, how these last two, focusing instead on Hot Chip at their most lush and romantic. Some will argue that’s growth, but not’s true - that’ve always been exposed verve and sophistication. This is simply the first time since their debut that’ve honed in the first instance on those feelings in the process of revealing how far we’ve as sonically over the past five years.
It’sa bold move, but deserved. The band’s split personality was in full effect on “Made in the Dark, flitting between center-on-sleeve songs like”We’re Looking for a Lot of Love”and”One pure thought” and hip-nebbishy Shakers as”Shake a Fist”and”flexible Poseable “. If you wanted a record of the first without the second, well you’re in luck, because it’s basically what we have here. As Pitchfork’s Ryan Dombal pointed out to me, it’sa move similar to what the Pet Shop Boys have about conduct - a quasi-disk shedding of their most obvious influences, and house and an embrace of personal songwriting free of irony or distance.
Because the songs are not only parts and mood, but are generally the same high quality, One Life Stand has a sense of consistency and completeness missing their other records, too. At its most basic, One Life Stand is an album of love songs: more precisely, it’s often a record of self-realization and redemption - to recognize our need for real human contact. Both the romance or friendship, songs of One Life Stand is often about the commitment (as the album title) and the mutual relations. These qualities Aren’t typically celebrated in pop culture - stable monogamy and male bonding delicate don’t have the inherent drama of a star-crossed, fleeting, or unrequited love, after all.
