Top Ten Albums of 2012: # 4

4. Hot Chip – IN OUR HEADS

Effortlessly hooky and emotionally profound, One Life Stand contained all I thought I’d ever want from a Hot Chip album; given their prior slapdash proclivities, I feared overall regression on this follow-up (and goofy first single “Night and Day” only fuelled it). Fortunately, In Our Heads mostly sustains their newfound maturity while tightening their craft even further. The first few tracks forge an irresistible, momentous groove that climaxes in the ecstatic “Don’t Deny Your Heart”; the second half gives way to more experimental attempts to expand their electro-geek aesthetic, like the start-and-stop wobbly pulse of “Now There is Nothing” (a weird but not unsatisfying welding of Prince onto Scritti Politti) or the trance-like “Flutes”, which convincingly keeps it up for over seven minutes. Even lengthier, “Let Me Be Him” builds from hushed reverence into a euphoric, initially wordless chorus—it’s probably my single favorite track of the year and it could be a massive hit if edited down to radio song-length (hint-hint, guys).

Favorite tracks: “Let Me Be Him”, “Don’t Deny Your Heart”, “These Chains”, “Motion Sickness”, “Flutes”

Video for “Let Me Be Him”: