Hot Chip – Why Make Sense?
- Written by Amy Finlayson
Hot Chip are unapologetically uncool. Which of course makes them seriously cool. They’ve been around for a while now and have carved a niche for themselves as stalwarts in the electronic music scene with their disco tracks and heavy synth geekery.
Why Make Sense? is their sixth studio album. It was recorded at a residential studio in the Oxfordshire countryside – which is very Hot Chip. In a recent radio interview they said “We had a mad night one night where we stayed up till about midnight and played Scrabble. It was awesome.” These boys are not going to be throwing TVs out of hotel windows any time soon.
But so what? We love that they just love the music. They are the hardest working people in electronic music - the result being that they have nailed it again with an album of solid gold uplifting pop music. Although this album is a departure from previous work, which focusses less of the house and disco element and is infused with more of a hip-hop/soul/R&B vibe.
They go full R&B and funk in ‘Love is the Future’ – even using a talkbox and featuring rapping from De La Soul’s Posdnuos, which just lays down beautifully on a tune that will have you swaying in your seat (I’m doing it now as I write this!).
Then there’s the complete juxtaposition of ‘White Wine and Fried Chicken’ which sounds like American folk music that has been mangled through some synth computer – in a good way! Unlike the floor fillers that the album is packed with, it is reflective and melancholy. It provides a little bit of downtime in the middle of the album.
Don’t worry, it’s not long before you’re up on your feet again. ‘Dark Night’ still has a bit of a darker tinge to it, but it’s definitely more upbeat, the steady beat pulsating through you. And ‘Need You Now’ is like a slice of disco heaven.
What Hot Chip have done is brought us an album of blue-eyed soul with music that you can dance to, but you don’t need to give a shit about how you’re dancing, and how you look, you’re just doing it for the pure joy of it.