Just because I was excited doesn't mean I fell right into the groove with this one. When I first started listening to it, I wasn't feeling a few songs. It wasn't until I'd lived with the album for awhile that I started hearing the whole disc and getting into it. That's one of the things I really love about them. Instead of just throwing a huge wall of beats at you and getting you to dance, they challenge you. The music can be radically different for what you'd expect from a group considered a dance music band. For example, the very first track on this disc, 'No Path To Follow' is sorta creepy. It consists entirely of a distorted, slow voice repeating the line, "There's no path to follow." Eventually, a normal singing voice joins in and sings the line along with the effected voice. Willy Mason is the vocalist and he appears again later on the album and we'll discuss him further then.
A buzzing sound launches us into a strange effect patch of bleeps and blips with a beat playing underneath that is slowly growing in volume. An ex of mine once said he hated electronic music because once the melody and the beat were established, there wasn't anything different. It never progressed beyond that. Although that's quite common with most electronic bands, it's not the case with the Chems. 'We Are The Night' hops all over the place. From the odd "Legend" quote, "Black as blackest night" to twittering birds, this one goes all over the place. It's complex and challenging. For those of you wondering what the heck was going to happen after listening to 'No Path To Follow', the Chems deliver something you can definitely consider a path. It may be random and free flowing, but there's also a lot of structure here. It even has a breakdown about three quarters of the way in. 'All Rights Reversed' features both writing and performances by the Klaxons and Lightspeed Champion. This was one of the songs I didn't really like the first time I heard it. After subsequent listens, it's become one of my favorites. I love the hypnotic feeling it creates with the vocal delivery. The music is aggressive and highly punctuated. It's got an excellent build and flows brilliantly from start to finish.
'Saturate' is up next and this is one of those songs like the original communication from the aliens in "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind". It's got a simple melody that's repeated over and over. And it's a melody that seems timeless. One that's always existed and we've all known it in our heads but never realized it in actual sound until the Chems put it out there. It's a basic scale run repeated, but still incredible. The build of the song happens not in the actual music, rather it happens with the addition or subtraction of instruments and sounds. It's such a dynamic way of composing music and adds a dimension very few artists ever achieve. The Chems seem to look at music and composition from a completely unique perspective. They don't few the music as simple compositions, they see them as artistic structures and things they can apply various scientific principles to. In this case, using instrumentation and sound to create a climax rather than changing a lot of notes. I simply don't have the words to accurately express what they've done here. It's so far beyond what anyone else is doing.
'Do It Again' features Ali Love and was the first single from the disc. It's a great track! The beats are there, the vocals are energetic and exciting... It has all the elements of a fun dance number and it delivers on the Chems reputation for making excellent dance music. It's followed by a song that's not exactly challenging, but thematically interesting. 'Das Spiegel' or the mirror as it would be in English is a mellow beat with all kinds of sound effect patches running throughout. You hear a girl giggling and making noises throughout. At one point you hear someone inhale and exhale. This is a groove you can really just sink into and enjoy. It gives the impression of someone smoking out and just being chill. Fat Lip appears on the next song, 'The Salmon Dance'. If you thought the rest of the album was strange, this song takes you to new heights of wondering what the heck is going on. Fat Lip raps about a new dance he's invented and how he introduces it at a club. All the while an electronic voice appears alongside him quoting facts about salmon. And we're talking facts. Like National Geographic facts. Now just from that description the song doesn't sound cool at all. It sounds kinda nutty and weird. And yet, it's easily one of the best cuts on the disc.
The next two tracks flow into each other and they're a dynamic duo! 'Burst Generator' starts off with a subdued beat and what I can only consider to be the electronic equivalent to vocal scatting. Once the build erupts into the full musical track, the energy leaps out of the speakers like an actual burst! I'm hugely fond of instrumental music with titles you can actually relate to the sounds you hear and this one does it. With natural builds throughout the song, the number is filled with climactic bursts that explode! Like all things that climax, the tune eventually fades out and 'A Modern Midnight Conversation' kicks in. Another incredible number with an awe inspiring tempo and ecstatic beats. The two of these together are simply unbeatable.
Willy Mason appears again on 'Battle Scars'. It starts with the repeated lyric, "There's no path to follow" and now you know where the first cut comes from. This was another track I didn't really like until much later. In fact, this is probably the track that took me the longest to appreciate. And it wasn't until the remix was released later on that I actually discovered how cool it is. 'Harpoons' is an ambient sound wave that just kinda washes over you. An interesting song coming off of 'Battle Scars'. In 'Battle Scars', Mason uses a couple lines that make you think of a beach and this track carries that over. In fact, together the two bring to mind sandcastle kingdoms at war.
The final track on the disc is 'The Pills Won't Help You Now' and features Tim Smith on vocals. Smith was working with a band called Midlake at the time. There's one thing you can say with absolute certainty... The Chems know how to create dramatic musical builds. All of their songs seem to have this organic, natural progression that builds and crescendos. Considering the medium they work in, (electronic music), that's an amazing quality to possess. There are all kinds of standard tricks electronic artists use. It's like a government issued howto manual some of these artists use to compose. They repeat certain counts, use certain beats to transition, etc. etc. Although you can hear things like that from time to time in Chemical Brothers material; more often than naught you hear something different. Something new and inventive. When I hear people compare The Chemical Brothers to other electronic acts I cringe. They're not in the same league as many of these other bands. They're so far ahead of their time it's impossible to categorize them. And this final number is the perfect example of how they create a truly moving and powerful build in a song. Like the final scene of a movie, 'The Pills Won't Help You Now' closes out the album on both a somber and energetic note. Thematically, you may think this is a rather negative record. Some of the songs venture into dark territory and the lyrics are sometimes confusing and at odds with each other. But therein lies the true theme. The night hides all sins. Each one of these songs is a moment happening in the night. Everything from a dance floor revolution ('The Salmon Dance'), sitting around talking ('A Modern Midnight Conversation'), walking along a beach ('Harpoons') to the quiet desperation of a lost soul ('The Pills Won't Help You Now')... Every song could be seen as a glimpse into a life of someone in this fateful night. On the cover, we see a far off mountain range. Our destination? And constellations mapped out in the sky to help guide our way or our destiny. But like the opening lyrics proclaim, we learn that in the night, there really is no path to follow.
I'm not convinced that's a bad thing.
My final words: A UNIQUE CONSTELLATION OF MUSIC BRILLIANTLY DESIGNED AND EXECUTED!
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS - WE ARE THE NIGHT
01. No Path To Follow
02. We Are The Night
03. All Rights Reversed
04. Saturate
05. Do It Again
06. Das Spiegel
07. The Salmon Dance
08. Burst Generator
09. A Modern Midnight Conversation
10. Battle Scars
11. Harpoons
12. The Pills Won't Help You Now
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