The Chemical Brothers
We Are The Night

THE REVIEW

Premise:

the one writing to you is (or was??) a huge fan of the Chemical Brothers, who spent years listening to their tracks and loved all their albums, wearing them out from listening.

Let’s get straight to the point: “We Are The Night” is the worst album by the Chemicals. Two years after the mediocre but still decent “Push the Button,” Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons decide to lock themselves in an old bunker to start working on what we can define as a revival of 80s electronic sounds, the same sound that (according to them) defined the club scene in Manchester that most influenced them as youths. Needless to say, every self-respecting fan, when they get their hands on a new album from their idols, can’t wait to listen to it all, hoping to face a new masterpiece, especially after the previous album wasn’t that great… but let's not get lost in chatter and analyze the album track by track:

1- “No Path To Follow” – Nothing particular to say about this intro. A low voice that becomes clearer and clearer chants “There’s no path to follow” until it leads us to the first proper track.

2- “We Are The Night” - mmm…Surrender…. Right from the start you have the sensation that something beautiful will arrive, in fact, the first thing you hear is a sample from “The Sunshine Underground,” from the aforementioned (and highly praised) album. The groove starts pushing in, and we are all ready to let loose… but then at some point, something happens, or rather nothing happens: the beat doesn’t grab us, the groove is boring, repetitive, not to mention dreadful. It feels like a piece discarded from "Surrender."

3- “All Rights Reversed” – The much-talked-about collaboration with the Klaxons starts with a chorus (or rather a lament) that’s immediately unbearable. The track proceeds but fails to capture, and then at a certain point tries to revive itself through the Chemical siblings’ experiments, but it’s a lost challenge.

4- “Saturate” –The best track. A simple yet beautiful groove serves as the matrix for a very enjoyable song that tries to emulate the atmosphere of the old (and unsurpassable) “The Private Psychedelic Reel”. The track is structured as a crescendo of the same groove that gradually becomes richer and more epic. However, it must also be said that despite it all, “Saturate” isn’t a masterpiece...

5- “Do It Again” – Now we come to what (for me) is the sore point: the lead single. Well, there’s no denying it, what was once a suspicion is now a certainty. The Chemical Brothers prefer to follow trends rather than their personal style. The track has a “trendy” rhythm and a “cool” groove which I constantly heard on the radio during Gabry Ponte’s show. For heaven’s sake, the track isn't horribly bad, but to me, it only represents a downfall into market logic. Moreover, it doesn’t even remotely approach the dance power of their historic singles, a failure.

6- “Das Spiegel” – I’ll be brief. This track is bad.

7- “The Salmon Dance” – Many describe it as a useless or horrible track, I consider it a fun experiment but what I can't understand is: Why?? Why include a song about an interview with a salmon (!!!) in an album?? Wouldn’t it have been better as a B-side of a single?? Aside from that, the track is amusing (mostly thanks to the really cute video).

8- “Burst Generator” – Another purely electronic track and one of the best: just like in “Saturate” we again have acidic electronic and retro samples trying to approach “Surrender.” The track flows pleasantly until the end, but what’s consistently missing is the same: the explosive power of the Chemicals. The one that grabs you even against your will and makes you dance like a fool in the middle of the room, freeing your mind of all thoughts.

9- “A Modern Midnight Conversation” – In my opinion, this track is second only to “Saturate.” The groove heavily draws from the ’80s both for the synths and the rhythms, which also recall certain hip-hop tracks from that period. A simple but effective and well-structured track.

10- “Battle Scars” – At this point, the theme of the intro is revisited. But once the little chorus ends and the track starts, the thought is: “What the H**L is this?? A 70s rock-folk track with a xylophone attached??” I won’t say more about this track because I might curse. Without a doubt, the worst track.

11- “Harpoons” - An instrumental interlude (but well crafted) that leads us towards the last track.

12- “The Pills Won’t Help You Now” – I’ve read in some reviews that this is potentially the best track, but frankly, I can't understand it: a track at most soporific, a sort of lullaby that concludes in a “Dream On” way what is the first self-parodic album I’ve ever heard in all the years I’ve listened to electronic music.

So, from what you’ve read, you’ll have understood that the sensation that pervades the listener (but especially the diehard fan) is disappointment: after this album it's hard to think what the chemical brothers will come up with next, if those sounds we loved so much will return with the same power they once had. At least one merit must be recognized however: they did not repeat their formula, but good grief, what a journey it is to create a good album!!! Nonetheless, the era of the big beat is long gone and buried.

2 Stars only because I am (or was?) a fan of theirs.