LCD SOUNDSYSTEM give another master class on how to-do-it right.
Following up their last album This Is Happening after a seven year break, lets just say there’s hype and expectations for the new LCD SOUNDSYSTEM album. James Murphy broke the band up, (i.e. he wanted to take a break without anyone pressuring him about music), after releasing two of the most defining albums of a generation. Even if the break up was real, LCD had already become one of the key bands of an era. Both following up a series of classic albums or returning after a seven year hiatus can cause some serious problems. But James Murphy and co. being themselves return like they’ve never been gone.
Rather than trying some weird new production technique and making a lesser version of what they’ve already done, like so many bands before them, band leader James Murphy focuses on all that really matters, the songwriting. And with the help of all his friends 😉, LCD has released two new songs that should get any fan excited. First Song “Call the Police” kicks off with all the energy and punk rock attitude that makes them one of the most exciting bands to see live or to just dance around to it in your living room. It also shows that, despite being considered a synth band, these boys and girl, can rock out and get your foot stomping without all the cool sythniziers and drum machines. Then there’s “American Dream”, the one that seems to have really hit an emotional note with fans.
The slow droning pace of the “American Dream” contrasted by that now classic LCD synth bass gives the track the feeling of time slowing down. Like walking through a montage in a movie when the hero has his/her existential crisis contemplating everything that they’ve done that’s led them to that point. That moment in your life when everything has been perfect until this point, when something hits you, and your point of view changes. Now you are viewing yourself and everything around you from the outside. And you just stand there wondering where the meaning in it all is. The song ends on a melancholy mood, just like it began, which makes the song grow with emotional power the more you listen to it. You’re stuck in that moment but there’s no rainbow with a pot of gold at the end or a fairygod mother coming to save you. All you can do is “Get up and stop your complaining”.
Listen to both songs below.
