The New LCD Soundsystem Songs Were Worth the Wait
The anxiety of aging has fueled some of James Murphy’s best work, from his debut single, “Losing My Edge,” to the middle-aged gut punch that is “All My Friends.” So it only figures that, six years after LCD Soundsystem played what was supposed to be their farewell concert, Murphy sounds more haggard than ever on “American Dream,” one of two new songs from LCD Soundsystem’s forthcoming comeback album, released this week as a digital “double A side”. A woozy waltz for analog synths and chintzy rhythm box, the song cryptically recounts the morning after what sounds like the worst one-night stand ever, as the narrator, LSD coursing through his veins, looks in the mirror and watches his beard crawl across his face. As mid-life crises go, David Byrne’s iconic “How did I get here?” pales in comparison to Murphy’s acid-fried vignette.
Mulling over a single, brooding set of chord changes, the song doesn’t really go anywhere during its languid, six-minute run; instead, it uses that velvety blue mood as the backdrop for some of Murphy’s most self-lacerating introspection yet: “You just suck at self-preservation/Versus someone else’s pain”; “Look what happened when you were dreaming/Then punch yourself in the face”; “In the morning everything’s clearer/When the sunlight exposes your age.” It’s a song about love, self-loathing, and unshakable desire, with bittersweet catharsis coming in the form of the song’s doo-wop-flavored finale: “American dream,” Murphy sings in a frail falsetto, over and over. Whatever the title is supposed to mean, it sounds like shorthand for an existential meltdown.
However broken down he may come across on “American Dream,” though, “Call the Police” finds Murphy and his bandmates raring to go, aiming for the bleachers like they haven’t since “All My Friends.” Like that staple of their repertoire, “Call the Police” is a big, bold anthem with emotion to spare, and near shameless about its grip on the heartstrings. Multi-tracked vocal harmonies, high-necked bass vamps, guitar feedback tangling like downed live wires—they spare no excess in their pursuit of extreme feeling.
Murphy has never been shy about invoking memories of his betters, and where “All My Friends” copped moves from John Cale, “Call the Police” borrows liberally from the melody of New Order’s “Procession” and the swirling guitars of Brian Eno’s “St. Elmo’s Fire.” Some have even heard an echo of U2 in the song’s stadium-sized ambitions and they would not necessarily be wrong. But this is arena rock as only LCD can do it, with an exterior as scruffy as Murphy’s own salt-and-pepper beard. Don’t call it lo-fi, though: Murphy may sound like he’s singing through a broken mic, but the song—mixed by Sound of Silver’s Grammy-nominated Dave Sardy—is as dynamic as you could ask of a contemporary rock recording, with levels upon levels of detail nestled in its folds.
Fans of lyrical exegesis will have a field day: What starts out sounding like it might be the story of the band’s breakup and rebirth becomes, by the end, a full-scale street riot, with people lining up to “eat the rich.” Whatever the hell is going on here, it couldn’t sound timelier. The conditions that inspired “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” have got nothing on the shit-show that is America in 2017, and LCD Soundsystem know it, with Murphy following his voice out to its ragged edge and gazing back at the wreckage in wonder: “There’s a full-blown rebellion.” Early in the song he sings, “The old guys are frightened and frightening to behold,” but Murphy and company have never sounded so invigorated.
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