Made in the Dark
After lacklustre debut album Coming on Strong all but
disappeared without a trace, Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor and Joe
Goddard regrouped and shocked everyone with 2006’s extraordinary
The Warning. The band led a charmed existence last year,
slavishly touring the album to immense acclaim as a now-established
five-piece, manufacturing a near-hit with storming live anthem
Over and Over and garnering a British Mercury Music Prize
nomination. Their third album, Made in the Dark, again
finds them in fine fettle. More soulful and less
dancefloor-oriented than its predecessor, it remains typically
eclectic and eccentric, yet a pop heart beats at its core. Among
many standouts are the strutting One Pure Thought, the
sugar rush of first single Ready for the Floor and the
jerky disco of Hold On, but there are also a handful of
heartbreaking ballads, such as bluesy, bruised finale In the
Privacy of Our Love, to pick from. Special mention must
also be made of the astonishing vocal layering and vocal interplay
between singers Taylor and Goddard, wonderfully affecting shades of
light and dark. Hot Chip’s purple patch rolls on.
