WHEN IT’S COME to infectious electro-pop singles over the past few years, virtually no one has done it better than London’s Hot Chip.
The five-piece band, helmed by co-vocalists Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, was a promising but goofy indie-dance act at the start of the 2000s, but grew stronger and more singular over time. in 2005, Hot Chip linked up with the influential DFA Records and since then has been responsible for a stellar run of tracks — giddy, mixed-genre earworms like “Over and Over” and “Boy from School” from 2006’s “The Warning” album that simply demanded to be played on repeat.
Hot Chip’s 2008 LP, “Made in the Dark,” was an overstuffed grower of a record that featured the band’s most successful song to date, “Ready for the Floor,” which eventually hit No. 6 on the U.K. singles chart. By that point, though, critics and fans began to wonder if Hot Chip was merely a singles band and whether its albums could match the high bar set by its individual tracks.
The group’s newest record, “One Life Stand,” should quell any doubts.
Keeping with the pensive vibe they struck on a collaborative 2008 EP with renowned British avant-garde singer Robert Wyatt, “One Life Stand” marks the continuation of Hot Chip’s “mature” period, a treacherous step for any group but one that they pull off with ease. Where the band was twitchy and scattered before, here they’re grown-up and focused, exploring themes like marital love, friendship and devotion with the same knack for melody and catchiness that they’ve shown in the past.
At a slender 10 songs, “One Life Stand” alternates between upbeat, dancefloor-ready numbers and somber, romantic ballads and is more cohesive than any of Hot Chip’s previous full-length albums. Buoyant tracks like opener “Thieves in the Night” and “We have Love” extend throbbing, techno-inspired verses into triumphant choruses, showcasing the contrast between Taylor’s aching falsetto and Goddard’s huskier croon. Throughout, the pair (who share lyrical as well as singing duties) is reflective and sentimental, imbuing even the record’s cheerful songs with an undercurrent of sadness.
Hand me Down your Love,” Taylor announces his true love but wonders if he’ll ever be good enough for her. “I’ve known for a long time that you are my love line / So why can’t I be bright like my lover’s light?” he asks. With “Brothers,” part of a tear-jerking suite of ballads in the album’s second half, Goddard examines fraternal camaraderie without veering into mawkishness. “I will drink my fill with my brothers. And if one of us gets ill, then my brothers will watch over me,” he states simply.
Overall, “One Life Stand” is impressive lyrically, too, but the sounds that carry its words are just as compelling. whether splitting the difference between new Order and modern techno on “I Feel Better” or dialing things down on tender, slow-burning songs like “Alley Cats,” the arrangements are well built and distinctive, and the band’s sparkling melodies come through clearly.
It’s just one of the many ways Hot Chip show its maturity with this album, and it’s a lovely thing to absorb.
Written by Express contributor Joe Colly
Photo by Bevis Martin and Charlie Youle
