"In our heads there's always been a dream of all we've longed to belong to"


That's an awful lot of introspection for a dance album that literally opens with the sound of a party in the background.  Hot Chip's fifth full length album, In Our Heads, is the band's most consistently upbeat album to date, which is ironic considering it's also the most emotionally mature in it's subject matter. They've come a long way from the sarcastic minimalism of their debut Coming on Strong, crafting an album that lets you embrace your inner emo while still showing off what you consider "dancing".

One aspect that really helps the album shine is the presence of longer tracks.  Two songs clock in at over the 7 minute mark, with only one track coming in at under 4 minutes (3:59). This is an album that warrants repeat listens, revealing it's treasures in the places you don't notice at first, like the funk freakout at the 3:43 mark in "Don't Deny Your Heart" or the gorgeous delayed vocals at the 5:28 mark in "Let Me Be Him".  The album does boast several notable singles, as every Hot Chip album does, but this is the first full length from them I haven't felt compelled to skip through.

"Motion Sickness" opens with the aforementioned party in the background, surrounded by rhythmic synths before big tom fills and a fat tuba bassline open the track up. It's a gradual, grand intro, with Hot Chip's trademark layers of arpeggios giving some rhythm to a song that otherwise has the feel of a ballad. "How Do You Do It" follows, wearing it's bubblegum pop on it's sleeve, insuring you won't notice gems like "a church is not for praying, it's for celebrating the light that bleeds through the pain." It's easy to forget until moments like this that Hot Chip are nerdy Brits with existential problems.

"Look At Where We Are" is the album's shortest song, and one of it's few slower tracks. Hot Chip are capable of terrific quiet moments, such as the title track from Made in the Dark, and this is no different. "Night and Day", the first single, is ironically the most out of place track on the album, but Peter Serafinowicz's brilliantly bonkers video is making me come around to it.  It's the 7 minute "Flutes" that follows that truly redefines what this band is capable of. A little patience goes a long way, and the slow burn on this track feels like something beyond Hot Chip's maturity. The band has excelled at drifting out of it's comfort zone on previous albums, sometimes with varying success, but sometimes riskiness pays off bigger than predictability, and "Flutes" is evidence of that.  

"Now There is Nothing" is another slow tempo number (actually it switches tempo several times), and it's the most "band-like" the band has ever sounded. I could be mistaken, but I think I heard an actual bass guitar in there and it excited me. "Let Me Be Him" is the longest track on the album, and can take it's seat among the finest in the band's catalog. It's the best Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor have sounded together on vocals since "Boy From School". It's the album's opus, complete with piano interludes and a beautiful wall of sound outro with chirping birds and reverberated guitar that would sound at home on a Chris Isaacs album. Through it's bounciness there's still a profound sense of melancholy (how upbeat can a song called "Let Me Be Him" be anyway?), which is disarming considering all the fun we've been having.  

"Always Been Your Love" closes out the album in an epilogue sort of way. On first listen, I thought "Let Me Be Him" would have made the perfect album closer, but "Always Been Your Love" brings the album back full circle to it's upbeat, playful spirit.  Hot Chip have made several good albums and a barn full of great singles, but this is their first honest to goodness masterpiece. Don't sleep on it.