Bleep

Lots has happened since Hot Chip released their last album A Bath Full of Ecstasy in 2019. Even back then, the band were feeling the weight of the world’s problems on their shoulders, choosing instead to persevere with their uplifting sound. And when the problems continue to push on three years later, the band push the ecstasy even higher, exploding on their eighth album Freakout/Release.

Written and recorded in their purpose-built London studio Relax & Enjoy, Freakout/Release saw Hot Chip reconvene for the first time, finding a sense of joy in their shared presence that permeates the album’s unique tunes. The upbeat optimism of bright guitar and synth-lead tracks contrasts against downtrodden lyrics, but it’s not meant to deceive: the music combines light and dark, exemplifying the uncontainable desire to dance and let all worries wash away as the world seems to fall apart.

Opening with a playful sample of Universal Togetherness Band’s ‘More Than Enough’, ‘Down’ is a slick and infinitely catchy lead single, its slightly depressive tone imperceptible under poppy grooves. The Soulwax assisted title track tries to shake off frustration, collapsing into a gnarly and grizzled breakdown with headbanging guitar shreds. Ticking trance clockwork finds catharsis on ‘Time’, making way for an unforgiving verse from Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon on ‘The Evil That Men Do’. As the Sun rises on the album’s more introspective midsection, Alexis Taylor croons on ‘Out Of My Depth’, “When I’m in my darkest place, I must be careful not to dwell there,” closing with the album’s mission statement of dancing in the face of despair.

After over 20 years in the game, Hot Chip show not even the slightest sign of losing momentum.