In Our Heads

Untraceable changes and apparent results

Once having promised to break legs and smash heads with their mega dance music, British outfit Hot Chip got to business swiftly and turned words into life. The audience was quick to fall in love with the ensemble for epic anthems and bombastic hits which did grabbed the last of breath and strength out of clubbers. Synthpop in its purest form has been steadily delivered from the Hot Chip factory since 2004, and no one would ask for more, no one actually wanted anything else. Except, unnoticed by most listeners, a new process was launched. The fifth long player by the British musicians gives a too detailed picture for us to miss the results of this activity. The new record, In Our Heads, seems in the beginning nothing but a development of the predecessor One Life Stand (2010), but, after looking deeper and farther into the past, you can see that the band is intended to walk away from the original sounds. In Our Heads is an album by the same Hot Chip made in a somewhat new manner.

Most of In Our Heads is dance tracks

The album lasts almost an hour, and that is not because someone was too lazy to get fillers and spoilers out of the set. On the other hand, experienced Hot Chip fans should not think they will have almost sixty minutes of colorful electronic music with heavy beats and nonstop high tempo flowing out of their speakers. However, this is exactly how the record kicks off. The most reliable method put in Motion Sickness will be applied by the band over and over throughout In Our Heads, and there will be plenty of classy dance pieces in the vein of old Hot Chip. You can name amongst them single Night and Day, or as dynamic These Chains, and Ends Of The Earth. Calmer Flutes complements the record greatly when it is needed to take a break and slow down. Another dance highlight is Don’t Deny Your Heart with remarkable nod towards disco and the eighties. All these songs could have been assembled for one great club record which would have become a hit, albeit but for a season. Yet Hot Chip, as one might expect, wanted more.

Experiments mark progress

Variety in In Our Heads is not just fluctuated tempo, but occasional calming down for lyrical moments. The first experiment of that kind is Look At Where We Are, a ballad with simplified accompaniment. On the whole, it is not bad, but it is clear the band is still better at making faster stuff. The same conclusion is made after баллада Now There Is Nothing, a good track for air play, but we know that Hot Chip can ignite hotter passions doing more usual things on stage. At the end of the record comes R&B-influenced ballad Always Been Your Love, a more interesting offer. First of all, few could expect an ending like that. Secondly, the British ensemble displayed great skills in working with a new style. Summing everything up, In Our Heads proposes quite a varied set list, which might be taken as the band’s intention to expand their creative horizons. The most encouraging part is that Hot Chip are doing it step by step, as if not changing at all, which should not shock or scare the audience. This record will not displease those who have been following Hot Chip for quite a while now, and should please those who are just making their first steps towards knowing this ensemble.