So LCD Soundsystem have released another album. And it’s… alright. I feel it necessary to hold some bands to higher standards than others and LCD fall inside that category, for better or worse. This is their fourth LP, entitled American Dream, and, again, it’s just… alright… kind of. Actually wait, no it’s not because they’re LCD Soundsystem and really good. If it sounds like I’m a bit confused you’d be correct. After watching their storming set at Glastonbury as well as hearing about other amazing live performances I was excited about the new record. This excitement was dulled slightly by some lukewarm releases, ‘call the police’ and ‘tonite’, but I thought they’d pull through. Sadly not. American Dream is a mostly unfulfilling journey backwards that doesn’t do a band of their calibre justice.
James. Mate. Stop using the same synths you used on all the others. Sadly (and I genuinely mean sadly), this album sounds like what would happen if you got loads of decent current electronic bands (Caribou, Boxed In, et al) to try and write songs in the style of LCD Soundsystem. Everything’s there – all the hallmarks of what made/makes LCD great, it’s just the alchemy hasn’t been fully carried out.
Of course there are flashes of genius; the opening to ‘how do you sleep’; the polyrhythms of ‘other voices’ for example; the glittering synth line in ‘american dream’, and the Devo-esque chant in ‘emotional haircut’. I also like the way all the song titles are in lower case – whether they’ve been reading Cummings or not I still think it looks really cool. This is far from a bad album. I just feel like this album might not have been thought out as much as the others.
There’s too much of a reliance on a strong post-punk drum beat and really well-recorded synths. Even the tight motorik percussion and harsh but comforting analogue synths that we all fell in love with on Sound of Silver sound boring and hackneyed. Obviously following up on three wonderful albums that combined pop sensibilities with experimentation as well as healthy nods to brilliance past is going to be a tricky task but this is the Murph we’re talking about! On this album he seems to have lost his moxy. Ai ai ai. What a mess. I never thought I’d be criticising LCD Soundsystem. It’s just been done before… by the same band! It’s like they’re ripping themselves off.
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‘other voices’ is good. It reminds me of The Fall. The opener to ‘emotional haircut’ has a riff that could have been lifted right off ‘Closer’ by Joy Division and the drum beat is so Stephen Morris, almost too Stephen Morris. Lots of the beats have this sparse, insistent quality. One of my favourite songs on this album is one I initially didn’t like – namely the title track, ‘american dream’. The gentle waltz time suits Murphy’s new, more fragile voice and the synth line is really lovely. It melds their new, glittering 80s/90s pop sound with the fizzy synths of their yesteryear incarnations but it sounds new and exciting. ‘american dream’ is mournful without being simpering and is just a great song. It even has some nice “shalang shalangs”, bringing to mind girl groups like The Chiffons.
I also initially wasn’t a huge fan of ‘how do you sleep’ but I’ve really warmed to it. It builds and builds really well. When the colossal bass synth gets going is one of my top three moments on the album. As ever, the band aren’t afraid of wearing their influences on their sleeve. AD contains a Sound and Vision-esque descending synth melody and there are definitely nods to Bowie contained within, especially the last song which references Bowie’s death almost directly (“You couldn’t make our wedding day / Too sick to travel”).
Usually I try not to pick up lyrics because there are other more important things and lyrics are nigh-on impossible to write about because they’re so personal, but everyone knows what a good lyricist James Murphy is, so why is he bothering with lyrics like “unwritten letters to some far away friends”? That said, occasionally the old James comes through in the lyrics, phrases like “vape clowns” and “Your quick replies / Made me high” but these are obscured. If there’s one song that doesn’t have any redeeming features it’s the third ‘single’ ‘tonite’. It just doesn’t really go anywhere – and it doesn’t do this in an endearing way unlike ‘Losing My Edge’ or ‘All My Friends’. It’s just a bit boring.
Putting my meta jeans on, this album might be seen as something of an American Dream. A great idea that turns out to be far less than expected. I like to imagine LCD Soundsystem as the Joad family, journeying towards what they thought was a better land, one of musical plenty and progression, only to find it harsh and unyielding. This is why the album is mostly a mirage, intangible and unsatisfying. There’s an argument to say that the musical innovation seen on Sound of Silver and This Is Happening were LCD making their mark, progressing, improving, and conversely American Dream doesn’t have such pretentions; it’s just the sound of a band making a record, they’re saying “here we are, this is us:. But they’re not just any band, they’re boundary-pushers and bellwethers. American Dream hasn’t got any of the voodoo that the others had. Maybe James Murphy has said all he’s wanted to say, maybe this is him just writing songs. Who knows. All I can say is this is a rather tepid album that doesn’t really ignite anything in me coming from a band that have white hot genius in their history and have ignited things in me before. I live in hope that this album will grow on me, and it really might, but for now LCD’s perfect fourth album remains but a dream.
Also, sidenote, can I just say the cover is genuinely one of the worst covers I’ve ever seen. I don’t know whether they were trying to make it look like an eight year old had done it on Microsoft Paint but it sure looks that way. Big thin grey letters over a painting of a blue sky, I mean c’mon?! But it’s obviously got people’s backs up which is great. So props to you LCD Soundsystem for doing such an annoying cover.
Words by Will Ainsley