Album Review: Hot Chip - In Our Heads

With the passing of another two years (as has become institution), UK electropop group Hot Chip have released their fifth full-length studio album, In Our Heads. It follows a similar musical tangent to the band's 2010 release One Life Stand (and in that it's 2008 precursor Made In The Dark), balancing sentimental balladry with hypnotic disco turns. This time, however, where a dark and beautiful melancholy would have once flickered through the tracklisting, an infectious glee of danceable positivity floods the release.

Opening the listen, Motion Sickness spins a hauntingly catchy refrain (which to some, may evoke an eerie similarity to that of the 'Weet-Bix kids' theme tune). A statement piece for sure, the track joins Flutes in controlling the pace of the album, making full use of Hot Chip's signature build-up of euphorically layered vocal and instrumental elements. Flanking both tracks is a collection of perfectly executed studio sounds; songs that make their mark upon first listen, and then evolve with every subsequent play.

Whilst unsurprising in structure (that is the dynamics, the drive and the electronic overtones underpinning each song) the formula that the outfit have developed over the past decade has only strengthened with each new production, the culmination of which meets at In Our Heads – a deliciously crafted album that's packed with dance, pop, rock, R&B and that rare something extra that can at its most succinct, be described as 'Hot Chip'. Discovering exactly what that is is what makes this listen so enjoyable. Between the clever sonic zigs and considered lyrical zags, this hour with Hot Chip is, as usual, a delight.