Freakout/Release ups the ante on what to expect from Hot Chip’s tracks without upending what to expect from a Hot Chip album.
By now, most regular listeners pretty much know what to expect from a Hot Chip album. There’s going to be a few beat-heavy dance tracks chosen to be the singles, which you’ll keep coming back to. There’s going to be a few slow songs that you’ll either listen to very intently or will completely tune out. Then there will be a slew of songs somewhere between these extremes, whose quality depends on how well vocalists Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard deliver their usually-clever lyrics.
Hot Chip’s eighth album Freakout/Release doesn’t change this composition, and as a whole, it’s not too different from their last release three years ago, A Bath Full of Ecstasy. That said, when broken down track by track, things are a little more refined. The dance tracks are better bangers, the ballads are more heartfelt, and the straightforward tracks are more memorable. In other words, Freakout/Release ups the ante on what to expect from Hot Chip’s tracks without upending what to expect from a Hot Chip album.
To start with the best part of every Hot Chip album, the EDM songs on Freakout/Release are all top notch. The opening track “Down” is a straight-up fun track that heavily samples “More Than Enough” by the disco group Universal Togetherness Band. No, I haven’t heard of the Universal Togetherness Band either, making this an Avalanches-tier obscure sample. The album’s frantic title track includes a robotic voice repeating “Wild. Beast. Freakout. Release,” kind of like the voice repeating the title of “Bendable Poseable” on 2008’s Made in the Dark. It’s a song that only gets more chaotic as it goes on, which fits, since it’s partially about feeling overwhelmed. Later on in the album, Goddard and Taylor trade vocals on “Time,” a house track with a four-on-the-floor beat and the occasional bass drop. If you liked “Hungry Child” from A Bath Full of Ecstasy, you’ll love this one.
The dance single “Eleanor” deserves its own paragraph here. During its verses, it has the synthesizer and bass sounds of electro-funk band Chromeo, already putting it in “very good” territory. The track really transcends during its bridges and choruses, and I’m genuinely surprised how much vivaciousness the band can inject into the three syllables of “Eleanor” and “Evermore.” The sunny tone also completely hides the song’s darker lyrics, which Taylor says are about “people who are forced apart by circumstance and aren’t able to be together as a family,” although it also “goes into a sort of fantasy world of Samuel Beckett and Andre The Giant.” I’d easily rank it as one of the best tracks Hot Chip have made.
When Freakout/Release slows things down, it at least manages to hold your attention. “Not Alone” is the mildest and most tender song on the album, and has a slow enough beat (plus enough bass) to classify it as something resembling R&B. I didn’t care for it at first, but Taylor and Goddard’s call-and-response vocals about insecurity and disillusionment eventually won me over. “Broken” isn’t bad, and isn’t even all that mellow, but it just has the unfortunate distinction of being the song that ends the album’s opening three-track streak of very energetic tunes. “Hard to be Funky” has a livelier chorus that’s meant to be a call of encouragement to its pessimistic verses, but this doesn’t really set in until guest vocalist Lou Hayter comes in towards the end. Hot Chip’s milder tracks have never been my favorite parts of their albums, but they’re more bearable this time around.
Even though every Hot Chip album does have those often-forgettable middle-of-the-road tracks, the ones on Freakout/Release at least tend to have some distinguishing feature that prevents you from throwing the baby out with the bath water. “The Evil that Men Do” doesn’t really get going until ⅔ of the way through, but then a piano comes in and guest rapper Cadence Rapper starts his verse. Compared to the last Hot Chip track featuring a guest rapper (Posdnous of De La Soul on 2015’s Why Make Sense?), this one’s much stronger. “Guilty” throws bursts of synthesizer inspired by 80s-era Prince, and could have been a highlight if it had a more pronounced beat. “Out of My Depth” builds up some steam, and is better than most of Hot Chip’s usually-lackluster closing tracks, but ends the album with an air of contentment rather than a bang.
Like many albums that have come out during the past year, Freakout/Release was partially inspired by COVID and its isolating effects. “Broken,” “Not Alone,” “Miss the Bliss,” and “Out of My Depth” all deal with feeling down, and the need to reach out for support. This overarching theme of catharsis does make a lot of the lyrics blend together, and the songs are best appreciated individually. Similarly, many of Hot Chip’s albums can be difficult to distinguish from one another, and are best judged by their respective tracks. In this regard, Freakout/Release is certainly towards the front of the pack.
You must be logged in to post a comment.