The Chemical Brothers, No Geography, Album Review
The Chemical Brothers
No Geography
Album Review
Experimental dance giants The Chemical Brothers showed signs of a new record a few weeks back. And now that it is finally here, the ninth studio album from the group in places shows that they still have what it takes.
The Chemical Brothers are truthfully an artist that I kind of dip in and out of, only really skimming across various singles of theirs. however, I am a fan of a selection of singles they have released over their discography, from their nostalgic and progressive "Leave Home" to the more upbeat, more modern sounding "Go" from their previous album Born in the Echoes.
But No Geography is the closest thing so far to an album from the Chemical Brothers that I have fully listened through. And the reason I say "closest thing" is unfortunately, there were some tracks (especially towards the later part of the album) that I kind of got bored of. But I will get to the negatives of this album later.
Firstly, I need to give this album credit where credit is due; No Geography gets off to an incredible start with the first two tracks "Eve Of Destruction" and "Bango". These two tracks ooze with the Chemical Brothers charm that fans have come to know and love and easily immerses the user in its funky, bass-riddled sound. What really impressed me about these two tracks especially is that "Eve Of Destruction" transitions so well into the following track that I barely even noticed that I was on track two until I was mid-way through listening to it. I could sense that this was trying to happen at other points in the album. However, none were really as wonderfully subtle as this instance.
I also feel it necessary to give a shout-out to some other tracks on this album which I like a lot, which include the nocturnal sounding "Got to Keep On" which has a nice addition of bell-like sounds to give this track a bit of a unique edge, the ambient conclusion to the album "Catch Me I'm Falling" and of course the teaser track for this album "We've Got To Try" which I actually appreciated a tonne more once the album as a whole was released.
The downside is that while this album got off to a great start, the same cannot really be said about most of what comes later on in the album. It isn't really a matter of the other tracks on this album being bad, because they aren't really; the trouble is that I simply find them to be a bit bland, stale and without the right kind of edge to get me hooked, which Is quite the key element especially when it comes to an album that showcases dance tunes by one of the genre's staple artists. Consequently No Geography is by no means a rubbish album, but it easily could've been better.
But possibly the saddest thing about this album is that it is most likely not going to change the way I listen to the Chemical Brothers. This album hasn't quite captivated me enough for me to break out of the habit of only visiting their most well-received tracks. However, I remain faithful that I will be enticed enough to listen to any future full-length records that The Chemical Brothers may release.
Thank you for reading.
Booth Boy
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