On »Why Make Sense?«, Hot Chip’s sixth record, quite a lot remains unchanged. Once again, the quintet is trying to achieve their individual fusion of polished pop and euphoric house – in addition to a few tracks suitable for the dancefloor, the record comes with a few sensitive ballads, too (»White Wine And Fried Chicken« and »So Much Further To Go«). The last obvious constant is Alexis Taylor’s distinctive falsetto. However, what’s new is a vocoder in the opener and a surprising guest appearance by De La Soul’s Posdnuos in the brisk and hyperactive track »Love Is The Future«. And there’s another main difference to their previous works: The beats are not exclusively made by machines, but were partly recorded by the drummer Sarah Jones. Hence, the sound beams with its very own organic power, but still remains within the corners of dance music, stuck between utterly different idols such as Kraftwerk and Prince. It’s basically all in the title: There are no world-changing-things to be expected from this record. Instead, it’s all about cheerful escapism – so most things remain unchanged with Hot Chip, after all. It’s only suitable that Alexis Taylor enjoys himself playing the jester (as stated in the Spex-interview,) and thanks to their stylistic confidence, heads and hearts, there’s no reason to fear that the jesters become a laughing stock.
Why Make Sense?
