Since 2010 electronic dance music has taken hold in the United States, ballooning in popularity amongst younger generations and becoming a cultural (and economic) movement. It owes itself to older generations of electronic innovators like The Chemical Brothers. “Born In The Echoes” represents the first new music from Brothers Tom Rowland and Ed Simons in five years. In sound and sense the album distances itself from the present state of “EDM”, while speaking to the past and future of dance music at large.
Twenty years ago the “Chem Bros” found an electric sound laced with the energy and style of rock and roll that burst out from clubs and warehouses in the United Kingdom and landed on enormous festival stages around the world. In the mid to late 2000’s their music became less experimental and arguably less focused. With “Born In The Echoes” they’ve reinvented their project entirely; 11 instinctual cuts that take their music in new creative directions while managing to capture the nostalgic vibe of their earlier great works.
The Brothers in 1997 for Rolling Stone Magazine
“We have to make something that feels vital,” Rowlands told Pitchfork, “something we couldn’t not make.”
What does it mean to be born in the echoes? Sometimes the space between sound is every bit as important as the myriad sounds themselves. For example the impact of a drop in dance music often relies on the negative sonic space that precedes it. “A lot of big, maximalized electronic music now is kind of easy to make,” says Rowland, “and we were trying to find a different sound.”
Born In The Echoes touches on many styles, but house dominates. Rather than the progressive house that owns the airwaves. It’s gritty and challenging; abruptly starting and stopping, patterned with off key instrumentation and punctuated with anticlimactic drops. High profile vocal collaborations with Beck, Q Tip and others move perfectly with the mood and the music.
“Sometimes I Feel So Deserted” is an anxious dance banger with a feverish build up that drops into the emptiness of a lone distorted guitar. The emotion and release comes from the build up instead of the drop, an interesting reversal of a musical arrangement that can be cliched by other artists.
With shiny, jazzy synth lines “Go” sounds more Daft Punk than Chemical Brothers. Q-Tip’s hurried raps remind us that the DJ is only there to make you “GO”. Rowland suggests it’s pure Chemical Brothers. “To me it really sounds like where we started, mixing hip-hop and synthesizers together.” A common practice today among huge acts like Gramatik, Bassnectar and Pretty Lights, the Brothers were the first act to blow up by bridging the narrow gap between dance music and hip hop.
“Under Neon Lights” is a high-strung trance track that has the album’s most infectious bassline. Buzzsaw synthesizers cut trails through the melody while St. Vincent desperately swoons, “got no husband got no wife / all I want of you tonight.” This sets up “EML Ritual”, a punchy acid house tune that progresses in breadth and density without being “progressive”.
“I’ll See You There” creates the same hectic sound collage as The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows”, a bellweather of sonic psychedelia which The Chemical Brothers would often close their sets with in the 1990’s. Crashing acoustic drums play off screeching and wailing guitars samples that are rounded off on the edges, rolling into one another to form an explosive melody. The off key off time keyboards almost sound like perfect reproductions’ of the Beatles’ originals.
“Just Bang” is a spacious track full of strange sounds which explode out of the void created by the poking synth and off-beat, tribal percussion. The drops in “Reflexion” are expansive and blissful, though this feeling is short lived thanks to crunchy garage guitar samples and distorted synths that soon scatter in every direction.
The album turns towards a lighter tempo with the weird and eccentric, “Taste Of Honey.” Rowland says of the track, “it reminded us of things we put on some of our early records that weren’t fully formed, ideas that took you on strange trips to some other place.” It’s a far cry from dance music, but the creepy vibe is a perfect fit for the album as a whole. The title track “Born In The Echoes” appears to be an ode to the group’s genesis. The Brothers defined their sound by creating a middle ground between techno, hip hop, house and rock and roll. As the lyrics say, “I was born in between / I was born in the echoes”.
The Brothers in 2015
“Radiate” is a lovely serenade with lyrics and music that marry each other perfectly. “Just radiate your love to me”, the singer begs as an ocean of wide, ambient synthesizers literally radiate through the track. The final cut, “Wide Open” is a brilliant finale to the record. Beck’s melancholy monologue, the most touching vocal on the album, blends into the stripped down house beat and airy synths. A timeless song about desperately holding onto love, we can picture this one becoming a classic inside and outside the electronic music world.
“Born In The Echoes” is easily one of the best electronic albums of the year. Instead of being defined by genres, The Chemical Brothers seem to define them. In a music scene that is rife with recycled sounds and tired trends, it’s rare to hear an album that caters to absolutely no one. But then again, the Chemical Brothers have been doing it for over two decades. As Tom Rowland says, “we’re just really into making funny sounds and putting them into some kind of order that makes sense.” Now if that’s not the understatement of this young century, Tom, we don’t know what is.
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