★★★½
With 20-plus years in the game, it’s nothing short of a miracle that The Chemical Brothers have not found themselves clutching at relevance or desperately diving into genre trends.
In the world of electronica and dance music, many things have come and gone. The duo of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, however, have remained a constant, constantly refining what has become a sound uniquely theirs. This, their eighth LP overall, is a mix of robo-rave futurism (St. Vincent collab ‘Under Neon Lights’) and block-rocking wig-outs that recall the big-beat sound of ‘Let Forever Be’ (‘I’ll See You There’).
It’s almost derailed entirely by a notably sub-par side B, including the hugely irritating ‘Taste Of Honey’. The best parts of Born In The Echoes, however, reside at the top and tail. Leading us in is ‘Sometimes I Feel So Deserted’, a momentous slow-burner that already feels like a classic. ‘Wide Open’, meanwhile, enlists the tender vocals of Beck for a rare moment of cloudy, hazed bliss.
They haven’t raved to the grave just yet – in spite of some missteps, Born In The Echoes has plenty of momentum and energy within it. Long may they run.
