Wednesday 31 October 2007

SINGLE REVIEW: LCD Soundsytem - Someone Great

As 'Record of the Year' once again rears its ugly head, LCD Soundsystem’s Sound Of Silver will no doubt be breaching the upper echelons of many a sweaty hack’s hitlist – just not this one’s. Yeah, it made all the right moves, shuffling and jittering to a gallivanting sprawl of beats and bleeps, but it never quite pulled you tooth-first onto the dancefloor with the incessant sleaze-driven dementia of !!!’s Myth Takes, nor did it set brain cells ablaze to the burning electro-gibbering that emitted from Battles’ searing, chromosome corroding Mirrored. Instead it seemed, well, a bit bland; almost feeble in comparison.

Yet, new single ’Someone Great' is undoubtedly the record’s soaring highpoint. A fluid, neck-hair quivering exchange of downtrodden rhythm and glistening synths led by James Murphy’s warm monotonic croon, the track's emotive, minimalist flickering conjures up images of David Byrne cavorting with The Human League at an Orange Juice appreciation convention. Etched in brooding disillusionment, it’s a robotically crafted chasm of deep-rooted despondency that tingles heartstrings whilst clinging longingly to the unlikely prospect of a dead lover’s return. And perhaps most impressively, ‘Someone Great’ is four minutes of such resplendent aural mastery it persuades us doubters to dust down Sound Of Silver and give LCD Soundsytem one final fling at redemption.
Rating: 8/10
Out now on DFA

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

who are you calling 'sweaty hack'? sound of silver is fucking great, though i'm starting to regret making it my album of the year - it's maybe not that good.

Ally Brown said...

nah Nick, it IS that good. Not my album of the year, but there-or-there-abouts. I wrote about Someone Great for the Stylus Top Singles round-up (where it finished 10th). All My Friends won the poll. And the rest of the album ain't bad either.

Anonymous said...

cheers for the support in the face of billy's cynicism al. i've just written a review of sound of silver for the skinny's best of 2007, should be on the blog post-haste...

Billy Hamilton said...

as much as i respect your opinions you're both totally wrong. that is one of the most overrated records of the year!