Fifteen years ago, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, aka The Chemical Brothers, promised us that “the brothers gonna work it out” on their single, “Leave Home.” That wasn’t referring to a decade of therapy; it meant creating some of the best electronic music around. Jumping ahead to the present, they offer up their seventh studio album with Further, 50-plus minutes of danceable beats and driving melodies.
This Grammy-award winning duo pays special tribute to the sensory overload of psychedelic sounds over the course of the album’s eight tracks. Throbbing pulses of electronic noise set the groundwork for snatches of vocal samples, squelching bursts of melody and other trademark Chemical Brothers sounds. Tom and Ed chose to eschew guest appearances for this album, aiming for a more personal musical travelogue that is reminiscent of the ebb and flow of their legendary live gigs.
From the shoe-gazing opener “Snow,” to the epic-length single “Escape Velocity,” to the techno crunch of “Horse Power,” and the sweeping sound-scapes of the album’s closer “Wonders of the Deep,” Further fulfills Tom and Ed’s promise to “work it out” and we are all the luckier for it. Work it out for yourself with our Album Preview this week.
Official artist website: http://www.thechemicalbrothers.com/
Further will be available on-demand June 14 - July 13, 2010
Track listing
1. Snow
2. Escape Velocity
3. Another World
4. Dissolve
5. Horse Power
6. Swoon
7. K+d+b
8. Wonders of the Deep