LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Let’s face it; LCD Soundsystem’s eponymous debut album was a major disappointment. Granted, it was always going to be difficult to follow up the almost unsurpassable string of singles that launched the DFA-founder’s solo career but, even taking this into account, James Murphy’s first LP was inexcusably infused with a distinct feeling of ‘will this do?’. At no point did the album ever even attempt to scale the heights reached by the three-headed albatross around Murphy’s neck that ‘Losing My Edge’, ‘Beat Connection’ and ‘Yeah!’ had become, and the inevitable conclusion was that he should be content with having created and immediately perfected a mind-blowingly exhilarating brand of indie rock-flecked dance on his first three solo 12”s, and leave it at that.

So much for that theory. Despite, or perhaps because of, the low expectations surrounding the release of this follow-up, from the off Sound of Silver not only matches the brilliance of those early outings, but actually trumps them. Despite it being only April, I can categorically state that no-one will release a better album this year. And more than that, I defy anyone to show me three consecutive tracks on any album of any year that can match the utter magnificence of those which form the centrepiece of this LP. Hyperbole? Just listen.

Sound of Silver opens with a beat so similar to that which begins ‘Losing My Edge’ that it cannot be coincidence. With the benefit of the hindsight that comes with the end of the album, it is clear that it is in fact a knowing nod, a recognition of the weight of the past, yes, but one imbued with the knowledge that, at last, Murphy has thrown off that burden and pushed himself to an entirely different plane altogether. As ‘Get Innocuous!’ builds and the vocals kick in, it is plain that we are dealing with a very different creature to that of LCD Soundsystem. Somehow, Murphy has transformed his vocal style in something that can only be compared to Low-era Bowie, perhaps with a hint of David Byrne, and about as far away from the Mark E Smith-aping yelps of his debut as is possible. It lends the track a space-age quality that only enhances the clinical yet uncontrollably infectious backing and is without doubt is the key to ‘Get Innocuous!’’s inauguration in the pantheon of great album openers.


And that’s just for starters. While ‘Time To Get Away’ and lead single ‘North American Scum’ may retreat to the more familiar LCD sound, they still easily more than match anything he has previously released. The title track, on the other hand, is as near he has come to a straight up house record, albeit one based upon a refrain extolling the virtues of being nearer 40 than 18 and with someone intermittently playing the final piano crash from ‘A Day In A Life’ in the background. But, as impressive as these tracks are, it is the three in the centre that turn what is a very good album into one that should already be treated as a classic.

Put simply, ‘Someone Great’, ‘All My Friends’ and ‘Us Vs Them’ together equal twenty minutes of the finest music you will hear this, or any, year. Somehow combining the euphoria that is a feature of all the greatest dance tracks with an almost painful intensity and wistful regret, these songs are shockingly wonderful, reaching a level of emotional impact very rarely achieved by any pop artist, let alone one dealing primarily in self-aware electronics. Leaving aside the actual music for a moment, it seems scarcely credible that the same archly detached, irony-drenched James Murphy of ‘Losing My Edge’ is now not only writing lyrics like “I wish that we could talk about it/But there, that’s the problem” but singing them with such absolute conviction. Previously, you were never sure where you stood with Murphy – the constant knowingness of a man unable to escape from the depths of his record collection prevented any genuine emotional investment from the listener, for fear of not getting the joke. Not anymore. This is real.

And the music itself is just astounding. ‘Someone Great’ sounds like the first love song written by a machine who has just discovered what it is to have emotion; it is as if the song itself cannot believe that its robotic bass and metallic melody can be turned into something so much more than the sum of its parts. ‘All My Friends’ is even better. With its insistent Velvet Underground piano riff almost stumbling over itself and Joy Division bassline pulling it ever upwards, ‘All My Friends’ has been described elsewhere as the best song New Order never wrote. It is much more than that – even at their peak, New Order would have killed for a song like this. It is jubilant and nostalgic, intense and poignant, all at the same time; it is the euphoria of the first ecstatic rush and the tipping point where it all goes wrong; it is the triumph of love’s first conquest and the devastation of its demise; it is, in a word, magnificent.

By the time you get to ‘Us Vs Them’, the intensity is getting a little much, and it is with relief that you welcome this exquisite slab of disco-rock reminiscent of those with which Murphy made his name. Beginning with his repeated chant of ‘the time is now’ (we are back in Mark E Smith territory here), the track builds and builds until there are no more percussive instruments on the planet left to use, before deviously dropping out for four bars. On its return, there has been a gearshift and it has been transformed into the slickest slice of Fela Kuti-tinged punk-funk since Black Leotard Front released ‘Casual Friday’ (produced by, yes, you know who), while the vocals have returned to that Bowie/Byrne collaboration featured in ‘Get Innocuous!’, sweeping and soaring high above the dirt of the bass and chops of the guitars. If any one song sums up the progression LCD Soundsystem have made since their debut album, it is ‘Us Vs Them’ – while the first half is undoubtedly good, the second is utterly blistering.

It is very rare to see a band return to the form that built their reputation after it has dropped away. It is even rarer to see one effortlessly top even the greatest of their past glories after failing so miserably the first time. But that is what LCD Soundsystem have done, and it is a feat worthy of the highest praise. Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to hear this album. Buy it, borrow it, steal it, whatever; the most important thing is that you cherish it. Albums like this do not come along very often, and it would be a sin for anyone to miss out.