Hot Chip: “It is a bit more stripped down in some ways”

After completing work on their fifth full-length ‘In Our Heads’ back in 2012, Hot Chip had already begun to start thinking about new material. “Well, yeah, it did take three years but I don’t know if that’s long or short really,” the band’s Al Doyle admits, thinking back to the birth of their new record. “It seems longer for us because, when it started, it wasn’t that long after we finished the last record. It’s kind of always a continuous process for us anyhow; there’s always writing going on. Then, there were three extra albums that we put out. It’s not bad going really!”

Since their last effort as Hot Chip landed on shelves, the band have released an additional three records: The 2 Bears’ ‘The Night Is Young’, New Build’s ‘Pour It On’ along with Alexis Taylor’s solo debut, ‘Await Barbarians’. Not bad going at all.

However, the band once again joined forces and this time, it was about exploring some different avenues. “I think it is a bit more stripped down in some ways,” he muses, on their newest full-length. Of all their records, it feels that much closer to the live representation of themselves. “A lot of the songs were very multi-layered and there were definitely lots of options in terms of different parts that we were coming up with, but then during the process, we tried to decide what were the key parts and what got you to the heart of the song and were just being quite disciplined with ourselves to not make the textures feel too thick.”