The cover art for LCD Soundsystem’s two new singles; Photo: Columbia
The scar from all that break-up jibber-jabber finally starting to fade from 2011, as James Murphy waited like the mere life-span of a toddler to revive LCD Soundsystem, here we are with a fresh pair of singles from the dance-punk legends.
Announced on Facebook yesterday morning in glorious Murphy amphetamine-rambling fashion, the 47-year-old frontman essentially dispatched that the world is ready for two new jams — “Call the Police” and “American Dream” — that will both be on the band’s forthcoming, TBA fourth record, dubbing it a “double A side” release.
Murphy spewed forth a whole bunch of other entertaining semi-news about a forthcoming tour with quips like so, “what we want: full shows that aren’t so big that you feel like you need binoculars to see if pat is actually behind the drums or if it’s louis ck or something,” before ending the communication to “get some oatmeal and go to work.”
Check out that full post below.
In the meantime, here’s what we know about the two jams.
“American Dream” is your classic aging rocker self-deprecation laced around an acid trip that has a character addressing himself wailing “you just suck at self-preservation” swirled around cascading synths and a waltzy backbeat that could fit on your brand of cool, dark-wave 80s cinema.
Familiar territory there, and an extension of the beautifully depressing “Christmas Will Break Your Heart,” which is the last time we heard from Murphy and company in 2015.
“Call the Police,” however, rides Murphy’s more anthemic side, that hits the ground running with that “All I Want” Bowie cruise and swaps the self-deprecation for one of few times he’s dabbled in political statements — “And we don’t waste time with love/It’s just death from above,” he sneers early on, alluding to our current state of Drumpfian affairs later:
Well, there’s full-blown rebellion but you’re easy to confuse
By triggered kids and fakers and some questionable views
Oh, call the cops, call the preachers!
Before they let us and they lose
…
When oh, we all start arguing the history of the Jews
You got nothing left to lose
Give me the blues
The song then ends with a line alluding to an infamous philosophical quip from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Just call the police/The first in line/They’re gonna eat the rich.”
As much as we’d love to hear a thousand more “Losing My Edge”s or “Dance Yrself Clean”s, this is promising territory, people — Murphy’s getting outside of his own ego.
Listen to both tracks and read Murphy’s Facebook post below: