I confess that it took a while for me to get into Hot Chip on account of Alexis Taylor's vocals.
Described elsewhere as "clear voiced", for me it was definitely one for the "acquired taste" category. Hot Chip's music was so irresistible though that I'm happy to say that I acquired said taste and, more importantly, grew to appreciate what a great songwriter Alexis is in his own right.
He's about to prove it all over again with his sixth solo album, Paris In This Spring, appropriately enough landing in March.
First out of the door is Out Of Phase, a collaboration with Lola Kirke, whose few songs I've heard to date have been quite definitely contemporary country, with the requisite vocal stylings, so this song seems quite a departure in terms of genre and singing style.
In short, it's a banger.
In typical Alexis/Hot Chip fashion, rather than an in-your-face dancefloor directive, the passive but short of insidious beats get into your system and your feet may start moving in synch with the music without instruction from your brain. Alexis and Lola's voice complement one another nicely and I've found myself sticking this on repeat.
Great video too, directed by Will Kindrick, and likely to be appealing to John Medd.
Paris In The Spring sees further collaborations with artists ranging from The Avalanches to Air’s Nicolas Godin, Ewan Pearson to Étienne De Crécy, Pierre Rousseau (Paradis) to Pale Bllue's Elizabeth White.
The one that's got me really excited though is a rare sighting in the wild by Alexis' long-time friend Green Gartside.
There's currently no preview of On A Whim - side 2, track 2 on the vinyl edition - but if their previous collaboration from nearly a decade ago is anything to go by, it'll be pretty wonderful.
Lola's recent work is indeed country - and quite trad - but she made pop records before becoming a concert to the country cause. Seen her a couple of times, she puts on a good show.
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