LCD Soundsystem is one of those bands that no matter how many times I listen to their albums I take something new away from it. Their song structure from even their first album to this new one has always built on top of the 4 bars before it making some epic sounding song that takes around 3 to 4 minutes to really get rolling. It’s probably my most favorite part about these guys is their ability to create a full song from a bare bones start and it’s slow burn journey to it’s climax. They took about six years off and you can tell that on this album theres been some growth between the members personally that shines through onto the album.
American Dream is weird. Lets put that up front. It’s strange from front to back but I’ve always found that the first couple of spins from all of their records. It’s like they know whats going to be cool in six months and released it early so you’re ahead of the curve. Pretty much American Dream is darker than their previous efforts. It still has the sensibility and the branding of their previous efforts but it dials in some more musically darker themes. As a reunion album I’d say it definitely hits the mark. There are definite hits, risks taken that pay off and absolutely everything I love about LCD definitely comes through perfectly on American Dream.
From a consistency sake, their website has never matched anything other than their original debate album artwork. So the consistency of their branding is definitely off a bit but probably for good reason. Every time I come to this site I know what I’m getting and I’m familiar with where everything is. Bands do this total 180 about face with their branding every time they release new material is dare I say not on brand with what they do. LCD has always struck me as a DIY band that did everything off the cuff and really just focused on the music. They have no other distractions. So to see that they didn’t revamp this for even the reunion makes me happy because if they did it wouldn’t be them. I for one am glad that they’re back and I really enjoy this album. Listen to it below and support them by buying a physical copy on their site or by seeing them on tour.
– Aa
