For rave-ready electronic duo the Chemical Brothers, a 10th studio album is a feat and a challenge
Beloved British electronic duo the Chemical Brothers released their tenth album on Friday, arriving over three decades into their career
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Your support makes all the difference.Beloved British electronic duo the Chemical Brothers released their 10th album on Friday, more than three decades into their career. But does it get any easier with time?
Not according to one-half of the outfit, Ed Simons.
āI think itās just more complicatedā he said, speaking via Zoom from his studio in the U.K. āEveryoneās got a new theory on how to do it.ā
Prior to the album's release, Simons and Tom Rowlands shared four singles from the forthcoming album, āFor That Beautiful Feelingā ā including their second collaboration with Beck, the track āFeels like Iām Dreaming.ā They previously worked with the singer on the 2015 track āWide Open.ā
They also made it a point to test the tracks out on dance floors and festival fields prior to the album ā āplaying them (live) as we write them,ā as Rowlands explains ā which, in turn, influenced their studio decisions.
āI donāt know if itās the right way to release an album," he smiled. āI canāt quite keep up with what is the right way, but itās how itās happening.ā
It's working. Audiences responded well to the smattering of tracks from āFor That Beautiful Feelingā that the Chemical Brothers wove into their sets this summer, no doubt drumming up excitement for the new release.
The rave-ready āNo Reasonā became the lead single from the record ā because it felt āfresh and differentā and also āreally fun to play live," says Rowlands. But really, itās all about how he and Simons feel about the track ā and sometimes if a song doesnāt go over well in front of an audience, well, that just solidifies its value to the duo.
āSometimes something going down really badly, will just convince you of its greatness even more," Rowlands says of this live-first tactic. "Youāre like, āYes. People arenāt ready for this!āā
Together since 1989, with 10 albums and countless performances across the globe, the duo has seen their fair share of the good and the bad.
Headlining the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2000 is a standout ā though Simons says it was āso massive itās hard to get a handle on what youāre doing.ā
And then there's the bad: A very different experience during a 9:30 a.m. set in Ibiza, early on in their career that didnāt quite go to plan.
They were āthe wrong people at the wrong place at the wrong time," Simons recalled. āJust lots of anger and tears ... sensible people would've gone to bed and then have a nice juice breakfast.ā
For the nighttime live music lovers, the Chemical Brothers are looking forward to getting back on the road for a tour that kicks off Oct. 26 in Glasgow. They're eager to use stunning visuals from longtime collaborators Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall ā and test drive additional music that didn't make the record, or as Simons puts it: āthousands of hours of noodling."
On tour, āyou can do your lights exactly how you want and get everything really tuned to how you want it to be,ā Simons added. āThat's really exciting for us.ā
In addition to the new album and the tour, the duo will release a book in October titled āPaused in Cosmic Reflection,ā authored by Simons and Rowlands' friend Robin Turner, with their input. But as a band who are constantly looking forward, it isn't something Simons is quite ready to read.
āIām going to save it for a flight or retirement.ā He smiled.