★★★★☆
As it stands, 2023 has been a year of comebacks. Everything But The Girl released an exceptional record in April, seemingly dissolving the quarter-of-a-century between their previous album; Britpop reared its head this summer in the form of returns from Blur and Pulp; and the Rolling Stones have wound back the clock with the recent announcement of Hackney Diamonds, their first studio album in 18 years.
When it comes to electronic music, perhaps there’s something about the sheer propulsive shudder it produces or its philosophy of never letting the rave die that sees it – more often than not – refusing to enter such periods of hibernation in the first place.
Phil and Paul Hartnoll, aka Orbital, released their tenth studio album a mere five years after their previous (and used the interim to drop a flurry of remixes and a Netflix series soundtrack); and The Prodigy might be without their leading man Keith Flint, but are set to embark on a UK tour with 2018 LP No Tourists still ringing in fan’s ears.
Likewise, since their 1995 debut studio album, Exit Planet Dust, The Chemical Brothers have been relentless. They haven’t just dropped some of the most recognisable dance tracks in our times but have persisted in delivering a constantly dazzling live show. (I was lucky enough to catch them at last year’s Forwards Festival, where they were as cutting-edge as any of the present crop of electronic acts).
Their tenth studio album, For That Beautiful Feeling, is the true reflection of where they’re at now: no point to prove, no scores to settle. It might not bear any tracks that will endure on the dancefloor with as much verve as ‘Galvanize’ or ‘Hey Boy Hey Girl’, but as a whole, it touches cleverly on many of the aspects readily associated with them whilst weaving in moments of reflection; of, dare I say (for a genre of music that seems hellbent on focusing on the here-and-now), soul.
Beginning with the does-what-it-says-on-the-tin ‘Intro’, you’re transported into a world of thrill-seeking party-going, tinged with an air of feeling – which helps when the album’s title is purred over and over again, “for that beautiful feeling / For that beautiful feeling…”.
The track seamlessly mixes into the electronic music equivalent of CPR, via ‘Live Again’, where the vocals of singer-songwriter Halo Maud likewise draw on the power of repetition, “yeah, We’ll live again / Yeah, we’ll live again…”.
This dash of emotion is what lends the record its brightest moments. ‘Fountains’ sounds almost like a Tame Impala-esque haze of psych-electronica; ‘The Darkness That You Fear’ utilises a sample of The Soul Brothers Six’s ‘I’ll Be Loving You’ for some straightforward house-inflected tenderness; and the best track on the record, ‘Skipping Like A Stone’ splices a choral harmony in-between Beck’s voice that’s so heavenly you feel as though you might just lift off.
Of course, these three offerings are varied in nature, but ultimately, all provide a sense of human touch beyond the thudding, continual beat of ‘Goodbye’ or ‘Feels Like I Am Dreaming’. That’s not to say these don’t work for a particular mood, but largely do so only for such a time, and their strength is really maximised by the more contemplative tracks that surround them.
Likewise, ten albums deep and you get a sense The Chemical Brothers are having fun, indulging in all the influences that have defined them to-date. Their love of hip-hop and turntablism, for instance – no much more present than on fourth studio album Come With Us (2002) – gets its time to shine on ‘No Reason’, whilst ‘The Weight’ is a Beastie Boys-sounding throwback. ‘Magic Wand’, meanwhile, is the album’s seductive, trip-hop midpoint.
Perhaps the album is most clearly represented by its closing number, which just so happens to be its title track. Funny that. This isn’t the best song on the album (I repeat, that accolade belongs to the fevery rush of the Beck-featuring ‘Skipping Like A Stone), but it typifies an album on the cusp of a huge rave whilst bearing real emotive prowess.
Cleverly, when listening to the album on loop, the same Halo Maud vocals on this album closer, murmuring “for that beautiful feeling”, snake back around to align with the ‘Intro’.
It’s as though the party will never end – and with The Chemical Brothers sounding as revitalised as this, you have faith it never has to.
