Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity of Huge (Wichita)
3/5
By: Dickon Stone
Righty ho. This is the first single to be released from an album – Temporary Pleasure, released on Witchita on August 17th - I have been anxiously waiting (shaking fairly uncontrollably) for this summer. After the powerful battering ram of hits that was Attack Sustain Decay Release I suppose one could only imagine that Simian Mobile Disco (stop just calling them Simian, simpletons – that band no longer exists) must have realised they had enormous – Titanic even – expectations to live up to with a second album.
So, on to the new single. ‘Audacity of Huge’ starts with the classy techno sound we expect from SMD; something in the realm of Chemical Brothers, Leftfield, Zombie Nation; you get the idea, if you don’t know the sound ‘to expect’ from Simian Mobile Disco you obvious haven’t heard Attack Sustain Decay Release and therefore either don’t really exist.
This rolling techno bassline of soft toned pad thumps teamed with solid round kick drum rises triumphantly with clicks, high hats and conga sounds appearing rather sparcely throughout the single. ‘Audacity of Huge’ is actually surprisingly minimal – there are probably only 7 or so different sounds going on at the busiest points of the track.
Chris Keating of Yeasayer provides vocals here, which gives it the same camp disco/tech vibe that was captured in ‘Love’ which featured Clor (R.I.P) frontman Barry Dobbin. Although the lyrics in the new release are a bit w*nkier (that is to say, a bit more… funky? A bit… limp?) there is some serious body in the track and although it seems like a far more commercially driven single which will be all over radiowaves worldwide and corporate clubs rather than underground ones, it still gets kudos for keeping the techno sound alive in the mainstream.
Simian Mobile Disco are basically heroes, and whether their new material is a bag of sh*t or not (which this conclusively isn’t), you kinda have to take your hate off and say thanks for everything all the same.
Artists in this article: Simian Mobile Disco
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