Has an electro rock band ever aged this gracefully? Hot Chip have their eighth album, Freakout/Release, on deck for an August 19th release and they’ve never stopped making dance rock that grows as naturally as they do. Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard and company have slowly been bringing in more of their crate-digging influences into their last couple of albums and the lead single from Freakout/Release, “Down,” saw them reviving a sample from 60’s soul staples, Universal Togetherness Band. Now on “Eleanor,” the band flexes their incomparable ability to craft electro-pop songs that match up nimbly to the defining Hot Chip sound; emotional, danceable and uniquely cathartic.
Dashing synths drift comfortably into Taylor’s familiar coo and the band turns heartache and pain into sheer strength. “You’re like a river flowing, that will never stop (Eleanor). You’re like the toughest tree, that withstands the chop,” Taylor sings. “It’s about the world smashing into you, waves crashing into you, all-encompassing pain, and how you have to walk through it,” the vocalist said in a statement. “The verses are about separation when families are divided against their will. It’s about strong friends. It’s also about Samuel Beckett giving Andre The Giant lifts to school, and about how Beckett must have learned a lot from Andre’s wisdom.”
Listen to “Eleanor” above.
Freakout/Release is due out on 08/19 via Domino Records. Pre-order it here.
