On LCD Soundsystem’s new album This Is Happening, producer and vocalist James Murphy sounds like he’s been influenced by more contemporary bands. He’s avoided the ten minute songs consisting of repetetive synthesizer sounds and has instead created a more poppy, radio-friendly album.
This is Happening Album
It kicks off strongly with “Dance Yrself Clean,” a natural-sounding song for LCD Soundsystem, with a toe-tapping beat, quick synthesizer playing, and oddly funny lyrics.
It sort of goes downhill with the next track, “Drunk Girls,” an obnoxious, somewhat juvenile track that tries to lodge itself into your brain, but not because it’s good. It’s under 4 minutes long, and the only track on the album under 5, and was released as a single on May 3rd. So get ready to hear it on the radio, but don’t be discouraged. It gets better.
LCD gets closer to its roots on subsequent tracks, such as “Pow Pow,” an 8-and-a-half-minute, head-bobbing beat with the kind of conversational cadence to the lyrics that defined LCD on previous albums.
They also try something new on the track titled, ironically, “I Can Change,” with vocals sounding like they could have been inspired by Radiohead or U2. It’s almost ’80s sounding, a basic old-school beat with a layer on modern synthesizer on top.
Murphy has hinted at the fact that this may be LCD’s last studio release. While we can’t say for sure whether that’s true or not, it’s apparent they put a lot of effort into this one. So enjoy it, kids.
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