Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Chemical BrothersBrand: CHEMICAL BROTHERS
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2007-07-17
Music Label: Astralwerks
Soundtracks:
- No Path To Follow
- We Are The Night
- All Rights Reversed (The Klaxons)
- Saturate
- Do It Again (Ali Love)
- Das Spiegal
- The Salmon Dance (Fatlip)
- Burst Generator
- A Modern Midnight Conversation
- Battle Scars (Willie Mason)
- Harpoons
- The Pills Won't Help You Now (Midlake)
Free Music Notes for We Are the Night
Free Music Review: There's No Path to Follow...
Hit: 5 Stars
Well, being the first reviewer to grace this album with its new artwork (which, I must say, does the album more justice than I expected), I should give you a proper analysis. The Chems shine here as they often have, this time taking their inspiration from the beauty of the night sky. They propel that concept forward with several thoughts upon everything from old age to copyright infringement. And, as so many times before, here we go:
1.) No Path to Follow: This is one of the few tracks they've made that is only an intro. Comprised of nothing but a distorted vocal sample from "Battle Scars", it pounds the message into your brain before sending the aforementioned body part to another dimension with the opening of the following track.
2.) We Are the Night: The album's title track invites you in with power, beginning with a grating buzz (the bee to Hey Boy Hey Girl's fly) and gradually building up from there, using everything from futuristic electronic whirrs to a Sunshine Underground sample to get there. Eventually, the song's main riff kicks in, turning a beautiful 4-note sequence into a 7-minute opus using little more than a guitar and a Bill Bisset vocal sample. An image of the night sky is established here while simultaneously having some level of magic added to it that hadn't existed before. The seemingly interdimensional tunnel they used as the visuals to live performances of this track was fitting.
3.) All Rights Reversed: Perhaps I'm a bit biased as a Klaxons lover, but this is a definite highlight of the album. Note the, erm, Reversal of the "v" and "s" in the title. This in addition to James' use of the word "copyleft" in the song's lyrics, is a reference to the file-sharing that cheats the Chems and so many other artists out of money, and, in fact, allowed fans to hear this very song well before its release. A bit ironic, no? The song begins simply in contrast to WATN's explosion of an intro, with Tom & Ed's guest band humming in unision to the melody that will soon become the main riff of this song. Then a piano kicks in and the humming becomes more choral, before James finally begins singing about what is apparently a collapse of society (a more pessimistic interpretation of Klaxons' usual end-of-the-world message?) interspersed with the aforementioned references to copyright infringement. The song builds up to a crescendo that, in live performances, would signal the crux of the song's trippy-school-of-jellyfish visuals and the addition of The Test's main chorus, before slowly dying out into the next track.
4.) Saturate: The only EBW to make it onto the album, it's impossible not to associate this song with paint after seeing it live. This song begins quietly before building into a SERIES of equally heartbreaking crescendos. It then prepares for another before ending, and, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, preparing for...
5.) Do It Again: This song, to put it bluntly, is about little more than drugs and dancing. But it's also a GOOD song about drugs and dancing. The official reviewer above hardly does it justice by categorizing it as a cookie-cutter Chems track: the song shows veiled traces of the album's emotional depth while maintaining the one-two punch of funky hits like Galvanize or Get Yourself High. To put it in such terms, it's exactly what the reviewer has been looking for from the Chems.
6.) Das Spiegel: A short return is made here to the night-sky beauty the album opened with, sort of like a reprise in the album's play to remind us of what we're here for. This song, whose title is German for "The Mirror" (a name much better suited for the track's fragility and wistful sadness), is a synthesized observation of one's own emotional intricacies, taking an increasingly focused eye to everything that makes us us (as evidenced by the track's live visuals, in which we gradually zoom in on a human face until, finally, something magical is revealed within: an endless stream of colors that move to the time of the song). It's a polar opposition to the following song...
7.) The Salmon Dance: Which is, of course, not to say that the following song is bad. Quite to the contrary, in fact. This is by far the most fun to be found on the album, and as promised in its intro, gives you some fun facts about salmon, all to the wit of Fatlip's singing. Learning was never THIS entertaining! A synth that can only be described as "squiggly" gives this song its flavor, while Fatlip lays it down on the overdub. It almost makes listening to the vocals die disappointing...
8.) Burst Generator: But not quite. With Fatlip's question of "Who's Hungry?" (almost as powerful at initiating musical changes as Peter Gabriel's "A Flower?"), we find ourselves truly flung out into space. The song is simultaneously quiet and powerful, and constantly shifting, appropriate for the longest track on the album. It also makes us ready for some seriously heavy...
9.) A Modern Midnight Conversation: Italo-Disco? Yes, but done the Chemical way. Which, for your information, is with a decade-old vocal sample and a cowbell. A lot of cowbell. This is another really fun track (perfect for club-hopping at the eponymous time of night). About halfway through, the Chems throw in some of their classic Psychedelica (as noted by the sudden freakout of colors in live performances), before all of a sudden dying out into a whistling wind.
10.) Battle Scars: And over that wind, the vocals so easily recognized from "No Path to Follow" return as a full-fledged track. This is the song that, in my opinion, benefits the most from having new artwork, as the original really didn't fit well. This is where guest vocalists really begin tackling the ideas communicated since the album's beginning, as Willy Mason delivers a song that alternates between a heavy sociopolitical message and what appears to be an expertly veiled allegory for the Chemical Brother's Setting Sun litigation from 1997. Over increasingly tense piano chords and the relentless continuation of the main melody, Willy grows angry at society and all the terrible things it does. Eventually, however, it collapses into silence.
11.) Harpoons: Out of that silence comes some shifting notes that serve as an interlude for the album's explosive finale. This track is notable for being the only one from this album that hasn't appeared in live performances in some shape or form, which was a poor choice in my opinion as this is a very beautiful track that doesn't quiet down to be that way.
12.) The Pills Won't Help You Now: This closer begins mechanically, with a simple melody, before the music-box tones (which have accompanied at least one Chemical ballad on every album since Surrender) kick in, followed shortly by the lyrics, which can be interpreted as either anti-drug or as a description of life in a rest home, after losing one's dreams either way. The song suddenly takes off with some grinding Psychedelic synths before finally clicking into place and gradually speeding up to the accompaniment of some pearl-drop tones. From this point on the track bears some resemblance to Where Do I Begin, and stays in its position of power before a slow, quiet ending. With that comes final peace to the sky, as day breaks anew.
We Are the Night Poster
Japanese pressing of 2007 album, scheduled for earliest release. No extras. We Are The Night has been realized with the collaboration of The Klaxons, Ali Love, Willy Mason, FatLip from Pharcyde and Midlake. EMI.One can never accuse the Chemical Brothers of consistency. We Are the Night continues their eclectic electronica approach even though the big-beat groove of the title track remains their digital calling card. Spotted with a minimalist keyboard pattern, vocal non sequiturs, and sampled sound effects, the infectious groove of "We Are the Night" eventually evolves into the monotone-chanted dance chorus of "We are the night skies/We are the bright lies," recalling Brian Eno circa Here Come the Warm Jets. However, for every catchy electro-dance, there's a tune that leaves you scratching your head. What to make of the novelty song "The Salmon Dance" is anybody's guess, though you might find some illumination in a salmon recipe on their Web site. With fractured nursery-rhyme lyrics that are sung like an off-color Sesame Street rap, it will drive you up the wall--or at least toward the skip button. Then there's Midlake singing the trancey ballad "The Pills Won't Help You Now," making the Chemical Brothers sound like a sci-fi version of Coldplay. Retro-analog synthesizers dominate, with the electro-grooves of "Das Spiegel," "Burst Generator," and "Saturate," which builds on a Kraftwerk-forged metal framework coupled with storming sampled drums. The circuits of '70s techno-pop artist the Normal are re-soldered on "Do It Again." With Ali Love singing the title-track chorus, it's built to be a summertime anthem akin to Tag Team's "Whoomp! (There It Is)," albeit robotically chilled. --John Diliberto
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