New Order, Music Complete - album review

Download: Nothing But a Fool; Unlearn This Hatred; People on the High Line

On the band’s first studio album since the departure of Peter Hook, New Order don’t attempt to replace his characteristic lead basslines, but shift instead towards a more general electronic orientation.

It’s most effectively realised in tracks produced by Tom Rowlands, especially “Unlearn This Hatred”, a twitchy electro strut infectious enough to help one overlook the ragbag of clichés that passes for its lyric. A similar over-reliance on the familiar infects “Plastic”, a pulsing footnote to “I Feel Love”; and more agreeably “People on the High Line”, which approximates the propulsive guitar and bass interplay of Chic.

But mostly, the album comprises a series of scuttling bleepscapes lent individual character by unorthodox instrumental detail. The standout is “Nothing But a Fool”, which develops genuine depth from its lean openings of acoustic guitar arpeggios and drone textures.