My Chemical Brothers return ablaze with For That Beautiful Feeling – a mind bending tenth wrought with more subtle beats and blissful harmonies as they share the love of life.

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OVERVIEW

I don’t need to tell you the decimation this pair had on the ’90s subwoofa wave of techno and acid house grooves. By the time we first heard it on our dancefloors, The Chemical Brothers were already pioneers in the big beat game; a temptation rocked by Hey Boy Hey Girl and Galvanize has allowed them to flourish more so with an unnerving spirit to the genre finding unwavering harmonies and innovative beats on their new tapestry laid out here. The tenth this month sees them off the back of a 25th Anniversary Edition of Dig Your Own Hole and a sprawling UK tour seeing them head off in 13 different cities sharing their love for those Block Rockin’ Beats, including a hometown show at AO Arena in Manchester.

Before too long, the dance raves of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons’ work cultivated into a niche artwork of easy listening as EDM waned into the path of the two fellas. Despite it being more than 40 years in the industry, the boys have rarely wavered, producing relevancy and infancy to the next ear set of generations – this new project fits the same foundations they lain way back in ’89.

SONG-BY-SONG

The 11-track record is a dreamy state of experimental lux, a more subdued handful of less obvious beats. But still careening into the traditionals of the mind-bending chemicals we’ve grown to inhale. The ’70s bass funk thrown in with spliced 808s, matched with incessant reverbs and gleaming warbles that make you punch the air upon realisation that the electronic duo are truly back. It’s upon hearing the likes of Live Again that make you realise this; the angelic vocals of Halo Maud a perfect consumption ladled in with the hypnotic war cry of a phat beat. The songs interlock with one another, a seemless transition marred slightly with a subtle interjection; almost as if the now-sentient tracks respect the hallmarkings of their fellow neighbours but want to still flourish. No Reason brings it right back to the cult classics of the ’90s; a suave bass line met with the symbolic “woos” – a resounding feeling for everyone listening. Goodbye is a more deeply interconnected offering; led with an all-powerful synth lead. Magic Wand is a beckoning hand leading us into the otherworldly dimension from the forage. The off-kilter harmonies make it almost ghoulish in design as it brings into The Weight – a funky noir strut of law-evading and hard-boiled badassery, while Fountains brings all the swaggering of ’90s dancefloor raves, barriers broken by the unruly crowd intoxication. Along with Halo, we see a major collaboration through Skipping Like a Stone, as they go on a three-wheeler date with alt-rock fave Beck – a second collaboration since their 2015’s Wide Open. It’s euphoric and holy, reminiscent of Leftfield or even Orbital: “I-I’m dancing in the shadow of love.”

Feels Like I’m a Dreaming is a huge stride into the unknown, as the duo encapsulate the movement of EDM that sparkled into their pop world by the noughties. It’s a more bold statement of intent, a blaring beat harking back to the rip-roarings of their early times, a warning stating that they may be older, but they are certainly ripening with age with beats still as progressive as ever. For That Beautiful Feeling introduces Halo’s vocals again for the third time on record, as For That Beautiful Feeling urges us to let go and wade in the riptide of simply being in the moment. A mutual understanding kept between friends as Fatboy Slim would agree. right here, right now.

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As a duo, their music is often confined to the tin-can playlists of ibiza sounds, but there is more to the music than that. For That Beautiful Feeling sees the duo start probing with the eccentric; as the raized beats here become less obvious and more exemplary in design.

Tickets for their upcoming UK tour are on sale now, albeit only available tickets are in the nosebleeds.