Chemical reaction

Review: Richard Long

FROM the very start of their distinguished dance career, The Chemical Brothers have been famed for the impressive cast of guest vocalists who have contributed to their sound.
More than two dozen artists have helped create five UK number one albums in a run that has spawned multiple Grammy awards and a headline slot at the world-famous Glastonbury festival.

But for the release of Further the DJ duo resisted the urge to call on the likes of Noel Gallagher, Beth Orton and Richard Ashcroft in favour of electronic melodies and snatches of vocal samples.

“From early on there was a guiding idea to not have any collaborators on the record,” explained Tom Rowlands, one half of the famed twosome.

“That pushed the sound of the record in a certain way.”

Band-mate Ed Simons added: “After working with a lot of people over the last two albums I remember Tom saying ‘let’s not think in those terms for this record’.

“That felt really liberating. There are vocals on there. The lyrics that Tom wrote, the way the vocals are woven into the tracks… for us, that was enough to satisfy any needs we might have to hear songs on the record.”

The result is more akin to a Chemical Brothers live show, with the eight tracks weaving together to form an almost continual mix that ebbs and flows to varying crescendos.

“We put the record together in the same way we would a live set,” Rowlands said.

“We were very aware when we were programming the record of how it would lock together. We wanted an enveloping sound like one of our live shows.”

And Simons was quick to stress how an element of the unexpected played a key part in the recording process.

“The thing we realised when we’re playing live is that sometimes it’s the random things that cause the biggest reactions,” he added.

“A delay or a drop, something that no one is expecting. The randomness factor definitely adds to things.”

There is also a change in direction courtesy of a new focus that saw them breaking free of any musical shackles.

“This is definitely a very synthesiser-heavy record,” Rowlands explained.

“Sometimes in the past we’d rein the synths in on tracks. On this record, we decided to just let it all splurge out.

“We wanted to make something where it didn’t matter if it wasn’t making total sense.

“I like records where things just come in unannounced. Those are good things.”

And the method clearly works as Further, in time, could be considered among the highlights of The Chemical Brothers’ career.

Opening track Snow – the only song to feature a guest vocalist in the form of Stephanie Dosen – offers a gentle start to proceedings with a slow-burning psychedelic feel before the pulsating Escape Velocity fully kicks in.

Another World is the only song that fails to deliver but the fast-paced Horse Power more than makes up for the shortcoming with an electrifying throwback to the superb Dig Your Own Hole release of 1997.

Swoon, K+D+B and Wonders of the Deep all contribute impressively to the mix and are songs that build towards an inevitable climax.

All in all the change of approach is a tremendous success and goes to prove that The Chemical Brothers can get by without a little help from their friends.