For That Beautiful Feeling

Album review

The tenth album from the Chemical Brothers is all about moments of dancefloor euphoria, when the music elevates the clubgoer into a state in which anything seems possible. This is familiar territory for the Grammy-winning duo, and the record delivers the type of festival-sized rave psychedelia they mastered back in the 1990s. While the pair have always crafted journey-like albums with continuous listening in mind, the singles are often the highlights, and For That Beautiful Feeling was previewed by several tracks that deliver concentrated doses of the sort of bliss the set intends to create. "Live Again" has swarming layers of shoegaze guitar wafting beneath Halo Maud's airy vocals, while the beats mainly stick to the same level of velocity, apart from the track's brief breakdown. "No Reason" plays around with a funky, stuttering bassline, and acid synths add sharp contrast to the unexpectedly sinister vocals. "Skipping Like a Stone" is the duo's second collaboration with Beck, and his assertive lyrics are accompanied by soaring choral vocals and propulsive beats that wouldn't sound out of place in a HAAi set. A new mix of the 2021 single "The Darkness That You Fear" (which actually was remixed by HAAi at the time) follows, continuing the message of dancing in order to escape negativity and self-doubt. Elsewhere, "Goodbye" calls back to the soul samples of No Geography, the Brothers' previous album, filled with buzzy electro-house synths and other cool, trippy sonics. "Fountains" is a flashback to the 2000s-era pop-rap productions of the Neptunes and Swizz Beatz, but with dreamy, floating vocals rather than radio-friendly hooks. "The Weight" is midtempo big beat funk with meaty bass and dubby effects. The album's title track, another collaboration with Halo Maud, seems like a soft, fuzzy comedown until it briefly surges with a shot of adrenaline in the form of an atmospheric drum'n'bass buildup. For That Beautiful Feeling has a few minor surprises, but for the most part it meets expectations and ends up another solid, enjoyable entry in the Chemical Brothers' discography.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo