Working with outsiders for the first time, Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard bring in Philippe Zdar (Phoenix/Cassius) and Rodaidh McDonald (The xx/David Byrne) to co-produce their seventh album.
While Taylor and Goddard are plainly good enough to do it themselves, having fresh input is a reminder that Hot Chip really are a band rather than merely a studio project. Less a radical reinvention than refreshing their style, the enhancements are most notable on the opening Melody Of Love and the closing No God. The most convincing ballad Hot Chip have pulled off, it lets Taylor’s yearning vocals, er, bathe in gorgeous slo-mo percussion.
Throw in the stunning banger Positive, every bit as delirious as Over And Over, and the question is: should Hot Chip ever be left on their own in the studio again?
8/10
John Earls