It has been well over three years since Chairlift’s exceptional debut Does You Inspire You dazzled the music world, and the wait has been worth every studio minute of it. As their coveted single "Amanaemonesia" foreshadowed back in August when it was clandestinely distributed amongst all the DJs at the station, the band’s sophomore labor of love, Something, due on Jan 24th on Columbia delivers on all fronts. The duo, singer/keyboardist Caroline Polachek and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Wimberly enlisted production expertise from none other than Dan Carey, the man who has worked with some bona-fide pop acts, Lilly Allen and La Roux, to name a few… Et voila! The resulting pop synth amalgamation is undeniably good, and we at KCRW are thrilled to be able to offer the 11-track album for your streaming pleasure in its entirety.
The album kicks off with a playfully hooky Sidewalk Safari and Caroline’s aspiration to make an album that would appeal to not just music enthusiasts, but also to 10-year olds (Pitchfork) is mission-accomplished right off the bat. Not to claim that 10-year olds cannot be music enthusiasts, but the song is quick paced, high in energy, with exquisitely lush synth melodies and a fun title – what regular 10-year old would not love it?
The album’s general sound is one of rich reverberating harmonic textures, interesting sonic pairings and lyrical adventures. Caroline’s vocal delivery comes through in perfectly delectable cadence with displays of technical prowess and raw emotional outbursts which are still artfully controlled and not in any way abrasive. "Amanaemonesia" offers some of the finest display of her perfectly executed delivery in what sounds like a four-octave range, but there is no shortage of its brilliance in other tracks. My other favorites, if I had to pick, are "I Belong In Your Arms," "Take It Out On Me," "Frigid Spring and Turning." There is this little vocal effect in "Take It Out On Me" that comes in at 1:35 that literally gives me little goose-bumps each time I hear it. It’s that good… There is an ethereal quality to Something that is both soothing and awe-inspiring at once. The changes are sometimes so unexpected that you literally have to just let go, relax and trust in music to resolve all the emotional melodrama, line by line, note by note.
-- By KCRW DJ, Valida
Something will be available to stream on demand from January 16 through January 24, 2012. The album will be released on January, 24, 2012.
