Lacking in ideas and creativity.
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4
Fresh off the chart-topping album Born In The Echoes, The Chemical Brothers are back with more of the same. After the insufferably cringy opening line (“The C / The H / The E / The M / The I / The C / The A / The L / The brothers” – get it? They’re the Chemical Brothers!) drowns out the fun, bells-centric party intro, ‘C-h-e-m-i-c-a-l’ picks up. With a rather catchy and over-the-top synth line and beat, what remains of the lyrics can (almost) be forgiven as the song becomes somewhat enjoyable. There are interesting breakdowns and bridges with which Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons experiment, but the song fails to amount to much more than your run-of-the-mill dance tune.
Honestly, guys, it’s 2016 and we’re long past the “Let your body rock” stage of house music. Pin it down to dance music’s over-saturation in the contemporary aural zeitgeist or simply a lack of ideas, but this latest Chemical Brothers effort fails to inspire much excitement or intrigue regarding what’s next for the duo.
‘C-h-e-m-i-c-a-l’ is out now via Virgin EMI
