It starts with an extended period of computer interference and bleeps. Before long, this white noise is joined by a repetitive high, ethereal, hippy-esque vocal mantra that wouldn’t be out of place on a Polyphonic Spree or Flaming Lips track. Then more beeps. Then more noise joins the fray. Not melodic noise, but not chaotic either.
And so we have the unconventional, slow building, strangely compelling start of the latest album from the Chemical Brothers. Further is their seventh studio album, and clearly the British duo know what they’re doing by now. They are masters of producing the sort of electronic music that gets vast fields of muddy people raising their arms euphorically and to motivate the crowds to release collective primal roars.
Further takes you directly to that muddy field (or that packed sweaty arena), but unlike at Oxegen you do not have to be frisked at security. You do not have to hand in your glass bottles or show your wrist band.
Track two, all 11 minutes 58 seconds of it, is called Escape Velocity. But there’s no escape from this hypnotic track, which at times has disco claps and sythesized retro harpsichord loops. For almost twelve minutes it builds and crashes and builds again. You can visualise the key moments where the crowds will bouncing up and down and where they’ll cheer.
Other worldly
On Another World, and after a bit more Jean Michel Jarre-inspired synth jiggery pokery you get the warblings of the first proper melody(ish). Weirdly, this happens at just around the time I found myself going ‘sure, it would be nice to hear a bit of a melody(ish) and a few more vocals about now’. And lo, there they were. Spookily clever of the Chemical lads to know what I’d be thinking, really.
And so the album goes on. It’s quite a thoughtful collection, all told, with blasts of noisy energy in all the right places. A very 2010 album – a little bit subdued with occasional outbursts, just like how we’re feeling in these recessionary times.
Horse Power features horses whinnying and the most Chemical Brothers-sounding hard-edged beats on the album. The single Swoon is next with lots of loops, builds and crashes, plus a couple of dreamy vocal hooks – very much the Chemical’s thing at the moment.
K+D+B follows. Quite cheery and radio friendly it is. More loops, synth riffs and stuff, all laid over what sound like really conventional pop/rock drums. Of course it’s not that radio friendly. It’s still a Chemical Brothers track, so don’t expect it to be covered by the next batch of X-Factor hopefuls.
The album closes with the joyous Wonders of the Deep, which takes elements of the other tracks on the album and packages them as a 5 minute 13 second coda.
And there you have it. Eight tracks in all.
Is Further their greatest album ever? No. Is it the right album for the Chemical Brothers to release right now? Quite possibly. Play it on the way to your next festival. Or close the curtains at home, turn the lights off, play it loud, and pretend.
Nick Bradshaw
We’ve got three copies of Further to give away. To win a copy simply email us, with Chemical in the subject line to givemestuff@joe.ie
