Two decades after their formation, Hot Chip have pretty much achieved national treasure status for their playful, soulful, sometimes biting, sometimes lovelorn take on dance pop. They’ve never slouched – and yet their forthcoming eighth album, Freakout/Release, is a standout in a catalogue not short on them, filled with full-blooded pop songs that widen – and darken – the band’s usual scope.
Featuring Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon, The Evil That Men Do touches on racial tension and violence against women, while Not Alone despairs at fallen male heroes: “It’s never the heroines that let us down,” sings frontman Alexis Taylor. There are starker personal lows here, too, with tracks such as Broken, Guilty and Out of My Depth nodding to the sense of loss of control that many people felt during the sharp end of the pandemic.
