New Order
Music Complete
Mute
It starts badly. When New Order released trailer single Restless as a taster for their new album you feared the worst. Not so much restless as listless, it sounds no better opening Music Complete. Thankfully, things pick up with the start of track two, Singularity ,and a familiar bass line "quotation" that shows the current Peter Hook-less New Order line-up have a sense of humour.
But even that's a feint as the bass falls away and the track pulses on electronically, setting the tone for what follows. This is an album that plays out in beats and bleeps, underpinned rather than overwhelmed by guitar lines and Stephen Morris's crisp, potent percussion.
Does it work? Up to a point. There's a lot of fun to be had here. Plastic channels I Feel Love-era Giorgio Moroder while People on the High Line is a pleasant enough Mancunian attempt at Chic-styled funk. But the pleasure is in the sound – think pristine chrome sci-fi perfection - not the songs which too rarely come into focus.
But before Brandon Flowers sings us out on Superheated (another track that prompts a "meh" in response), there are at least a couple of tracks that trigger endorphin releases. There's the atypical Stray Dog, which sees Iggy Pop of all people narrate over a noir soundbed. And then there's Nothing But a Fool. Clean, poppy, beautiful, it sounds like it could be a track off Republic. It is nothing new then. But it is very New Order. Turns out, that can still be a good thing.
Teddy Jamieson
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