The Chemical Brothers We Are The Night by: Geoff Lemon Mon:06-Aug-07 Label: Astralwerks Year: 2007 WB rating 72 out of 100

There is always at least a sense of apprehension, if not downright fear, when one of the towering acts of one’s musical past gears up for a new outing. While there’s always the hope they’ll match their previous efforts, there’s at least an equal chance they’ll deliver a disappointment like The Prodigy’s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned or Underworld’s tepid ambient offering 100 Days Off. Where new releases by legendary acts carry as much chance of detracting from that legend as enhancing it, you can find yourself wishing your heroes had quit when they were up at half time. So when the latest offering from The Chemical Brothers arrived, I was more than half inclined to hide under my desk with my headphones on playing Exit Planet Dust. When it comes to electronic acts, they don’t come any more legendary than The Chemical Brothers. This is the duo that last decade, along with Fatboy Slim, took electronic music to unprecedented levels of mainstream popularity, and somehow managed to retain their credibility. In the end, you have to crack the disc open and hit play, hoping that the Brothers are indeed gonna work it out.

It’s always going to be a huge ask, following up a welter of hits like those The Chemical Brothers delivered on Surrender or Come With Us. To their credit, the Brothers haven’t tried to duplicate these efforts. We Are The Night is a mellower affair, an album without any genuine dancefloor stompers. Unfortunately, it also lacks any real point of intensity, or overall cohesion. Where the Brothers’ sound was once the huge beats and funk of ‘It Began in Afrika’ or ‘Block Rockin’ Beats’ the latest collection is far more muted. Admittedly, the Brothers’ previous recordings were more collections of great tracks than great cohesive albums, but We Are The Night is neither, hindered by flat spots that didn’t trouble its predecessors.

Essentially, this is an album with an identity crisis. An ill-considered range of styles do not sit comfortably alongside one another, and the good tracks are undermined by the bad. Things are promising early with ‘All Rights Reversed’ and ‘Saturate’. The first is a low, driving, creeper with geezer-accented vocals from London outfit Klaxons – one that will grow on you with repeated listening. The latter is an off-centre evocation of last decade’s melodic trance, with soaring synthesiser lines twisted into discords reminiscent of Underworld’s ‘Rez’.

But after the build-up of these oddly unsettling tracks, when you’re waiting for the Brothers to hit you with something climactic, they puncture the whole enterprise with the commercial R&B sound and corny vocalising of ‘Do It Again’. The first single off the album, this embarrassing effort was clearly written to crack the discerning market that lapped up Fergie’s work on ‘My Humps’. Then comes the cheese of ‘The Salmon Dance’, with ex-Pharcyde rapper Fatlip. Yes, this track is cute and funny….for perhaps the first three listens. Then you’ll be diving for the skip button. After a spurt of radio airplay, it’ll have all the longevity of a salmon after spawning. ‘A Modern Midnight’ sees the bones of a good track desecrated by a cloying Enya-style vocal telling you to “listen to your heart”, while the title track is a tired nod to past Chemical Brothers efforts that never gets out of second gear.

These are the downsides to an album that still finds some ups. ‘Das Spiegel’ is a beautiful and gentle orchestration, and ‘Burst Generator’ is as close to a good old-fashioned Chemical Brothers foot-stomper as you’ll get, though it still doesn’t quite hit top gear. ‘The Pills Won’t Help You Now’ is a sweetly despairing hymn featuring U.S. band Midlake, with spare production that would be at home on a Postal Service song, and ‘Battle Scars’ is clearly the album’s standout track. This dark, brooding dirge features Willy Mason, a skinny white kid with a voice about three times as raw and deep as his Canterbury Bulldogs namesake. Along with ‘All Rights Reversed’, these latter two tracks form a partial redemption for We Are The Night. It is interesting that all three are collaborations with lots of vocals. Perhaps this should not come as a surprise, though, given that much of The Chemical Brothers’ most significant work has been with vocalists – consider the prominence of ‘Out of Control’ or ‘Let Forever Be’ in their back catalogue, and their collaborations with Beth Orton, Noel Gallagher and The Flaming Lips.

Overall, this album goes down like a truck-stop double bacon burger. While there are some satisfyingly meaty and juicy bits, there are several unpleasant objects in the patty that just don’t belong, and that unnecessary extra slice of cheese leaves you feeling vaguely sick. The good news is that The Chemical Brothers aren’t just trying to copy their old style. These old dogs still have some new tricks, given that the best tracks are far slower and darker than their previous work. The bad news is that their record company, their sales, and seemingly their desire to be hip with the kids, are all colouring their output. So do you want We Are The Night? Yes. Even if you’re not into electronic, the vocal tracks are worth repeated listening. But you might want to edit your playlist to filter out the crud. Of course, if you want to shake your lovely lady lumps… that’s up to you.