LCD Soundsystem is back with two new tracks with lead single Call The Police picking up a hell of a lot of attention for its seven minutes plus of layered alt-rock brilliance. The music video was trending on YouTube within hours of its release and then it did it again with the video of the live debut of the new material on Saturday Night Live (SNL) over the weekend, which is pretty good going for the New Yorkers.
It’s got a slow build, but it doesn’t take any time to impress with woody percussion and a driving bass line intro. It’s lifted by the downpour of drenching synth melodies with a little reverb spin and a fuzzy compression note that gives it a lot of weight.
The guitar rhythm kicks in a little later, layering in a little more pace, overlaying James Murphy’s stretching vocals before a cymbal shimmer gets fused over it all. There’s a lot going on in the song, but it all comes together with the layering approach to the song progression. The screeching guitar riffs don’t arrive until half way through, but they cut in to add to the wall of noise that starts to come together.
Call The Police audio video:
The lyrics are sprawling with a bitter/sweet sentiment, dominated by a certain cynicism in, “we don’t waste time with love” and, “we all know this is nothing”, but reprieved with a minor fleck of positivity in the line, “so we do the best we can”. There’s a little non sequitur notion to the flow with statements that feel disconnected on the surface, but somehow intrinsically linked like they’re encompassing a much wider time period in history.
The arrival of Call The Police was also accompanied by American Dream, the second track released from the upcoming new album, also entitled American Dream, planned for release in September. It’s another lengthy gem, but with a slower pace and more emphasis on sweeping synth blasts that put an alt-rock spin on baroque-pop.
American Dream audio video:
Combined, they make for an impressive return for the band, which hasn’t put out a new album since 2010s This Is Happening. The lengthy time away from a recording studio was largely influenced by the group’s disbandment back in 2011. Front-man James Murphy put the band back together towards the end of 2015 and with the release of the two new singles the album is surely not going to be too far behind them.
LCD Soundsystem, Call The Police review: 4.5/5
