LCD Soundsystem - American Dream

LCD Soundsystem
American Dream
2017
Spotify

For many of the faithful the day they never thought would come finally had, LCD Soundsystem actually recorded a new album, like for real. After what was billed as one of the greatest final performances in New York in 2011 it seemed like the band who was obsessed with the process had finally come to end. But, here it is American Dream, an album from a "band about a band writing music about writing music" (James Murphy). From the first moment you are overtaken by the precision, the slickness, the aggression and the groove something LCD have always been so great at doing. It might be the disco bass on "other voices" that leads into a synthy build only to be punctuated by some classic James Murphy speak/sing delivery. LCD are high minded and they know it, and aren't afraid to talk about how ridiculous they treat art sometimes, but you never get the sense that they are anything but earnest. They feel this and it makes you feel it too. Tension has always been James Murphy's favorite realm to play in and He really does it expertly on American Dream. The songs, though long, just further the unease until it finally explodes in a dancing extravaganza. Yet this is all done with such attention to detail because it is all part of the big plan. You could attribute this to James' DJing because He knows to create something from start to finish and have it have an entire narrative. He does this in his DJ sets and He does it on albums. However, James Murphy is so much better as a part of LCD Soundsystem than He is on his own almost like their music, "it ain't fun if the homies can't get none".

With member now deep into their forties you would expect a more "refined" sound but that ecstatic rage is always still just under the surface waiting to bubble up. "how do you sleep?" has this violin which is rapid and oppressive but it just makes the dreamy synths which drop into a booming sound all the more exciting. The singles including "tonite" seemed a bit more fun and freewheeling than the rest of the album with "tonite" in particular taking on this really funky 80s inspired synth deep dive. The one thing LCD always manage to do is make sure their songs are groovy. You can't help but shake your body as each song unfolds in front of you basically laying out the checkered floor. "emotional haircut" is a little to artsy for it's on good and never really locks into that intensity that the rest of the tracks do. For a return album much of the subject matter focuses on endings something that a lot of forty years olds in the arts probably think about quite a bit. Yet for LCD an ending doesn't mean the end of everything it is just a chance for something else to come about. I usually rail againts jam band shit and tracks that are way to long, but even though nothing is under five minutes on this record it all just sails by. The hour runtime doesn't feel like nearly enough, but it just leaves you wanting so much more. When you think about it all the expectations could have ensured this album sucked, but not this band, not this album, LCD Soundsystem are back mother fuckers.

9.0 out of 10