album of the week: 2.3

Hot Chip

One Life Stand

EMI (2010)

why you'll love it: high quality synth-electronica love songs

why you'll hate it: quite plain for a Hot Chip album

Our word of the week is kitsch, something Hot Chip has been very familiar with. Through their entire career thus-far, they've been the whitest of white nerds blending a combination of outdated genres once reserved for the suave and cool. As time has passed, they've managed not to be so overt in their Prince and Stevie Wonder references. This could be due to finding their own sound over the years, or just becoming a richer and more talented band.

While in the past, Hot Chip has managed to ironically roll with or disguise their kitschy style with many layers, this time out, they decide to fully embrace it. Just about every song on the album is a love song, and an honest one at that. It's a rather strong gear shift from the very abstract style in the previous two albums. You hear a lot more of an ethereal electronic sound. More like a high production Brian Eno style, than an eccentric and strange Kraftwerk style. So, right off the bat, this is not the kind of album I want to hear from Hot Chip. That isn't to say I don't like it though.

The album reminds me a lot of LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver. It's an honest heartfelt club album. The difference is that Hot Chip puts the sentiment before the dance aspect. The best moments of One Life Stand are fascinating more than they are danceable. I love the creepy melodies hidden beneath some of the love songs. I doubt this was an intentional undermining, but I enjoy the juxtaposition in the verses to "Take it in" and the buzzsaw synth lines during the "One lIfe Stand" chorus.

While this album may be a disappointment in that it doesn't follow the experimentation of my favorite album of 2008 (Made in The Dark), its change of pace is welcome and interesting. It's hypnotizing to hear how much they can do with a simple melody in songs like "Slush" and "I Feel Better". I can totally swallow a love ballad album by Hot Chip provided it's what the band feels comfortable with and enthused about. But only once. I sure hope they never do it again. Let's see the "art attack" return in 2012.