[Review] Hot Chip – ‘One Life Stand’

Hot Chip are an act who seem provoke mixed reactions when it comes to defining the band in a given genre.

For anyone who was aware of the band pre 2007 they’d probably define Hot Chip as dance-pop or something similar. Hits such as ‘Over & Over’ and ‘Boy From School’ taken from ‘The Warning’ firmly cemented this position. Since then, predominantly following the release of ‘Made in the Dark’, the band have transitioned to a more soulful sound which has been honed to near perfection on ‘One Life Stand’.

Previous album ‘Made in the Dark’ was the transitional record which missed the mark in places, thankfully ‘One Life Stand’ hits the spot and offers a much more tranquil Hot Chip but also a Hot Chip who are still brilliantly eccentric in the way only us Brits can be.

So you’ve likely already heard a couple of previews from the album thus far, they probably include ‘Take It In’ and the single ‘One Life Stand’. These two tracks are possibly the most upbeat and of the highest tempo on the album, not a bad thing as they’re both good songs (especially ‘One Life Stand’), but something of a misrepresentation of the album as a whole.

‘I Feel Better’ is amongst the standout tracks on the album. The track begins steadily with a string section which continues throughout, it’s steadily followed by Alexis Taylor’s falsetto voice, a steady bass and finally the brilliant steel drums which can also be heard in ‘One Life Stand’.

‘Humanahumanahumanahumanahumana’ gently loops in the background of the beautiful ‘Slush’, a real ballad which will stop you in your tracks and help you to really appreciate Taylor’s lyrics and vocals. The steel drums are used subtly and to perfection.

‘Alley Cats’ see’s Hot Chip once again finding an odd subject matter to produce some clever metaphors (see ‘Wrestlers’ from ‘Made in the Dark’ for more). Joe Goddard’s vocals offer a more masculine sound with his recognisable but perfected monotonousness.

Overall ‘One Life Stand’ is a brilliantly consistent LP which feels much more like a full body of work rather than segmented tracks awkwardly fashioned together, a trait which has perhaps hampered Hot Chip in the past. ‘One Life Stand’ is the music Hot Chip have always been trying to make but never quite been able to, until now that is.

‘One Life Stand’ is available now on EMI. Alternatively you can stream the album in it’s entirety over at Hot Chip’s MySpace page.