Beautiful Thing
Hot Chip’s singer sounds caught in an irresistible haze on his latest solo LP, making music that’s more deluxe than usual but far scruffier than his main band.
A Perfect Circle’s belated Eat The Elephant is more whimper than bang, while the Melvins’ acid-drenched Pinkus Abortion Technician doubles the bass, and Exitmusic dissolves with the exhausting but honest The Recognitions. These, plus Sting & Shaggy and Alexis Taylor in this week’s notable new releases.
Beautiful Thing shows the other end of Alexis Taylors talents as both a songwriter and a musician, and it’s time that more discovered them.
The Hot Chip singer's fourth solo album 'Beautiful Thing' shows glimpses of his most pulsating work to date
It doesn’t always quite hit those high notes, but the pair have set out to create a sometimes elusive feeling of connection.
In this week's roundup, Tim Burgess' new album proves impulsively replayable, while Alexis Taylor makes a statement in human authenticity
For the most part, Alexis Taylor's solo career has been just that -- Taylor making music largely on his own. That changes on Beautiful Thing, his first album to feature an outside producer. Working with Tim Goldsworthy, Taylor opens up his music, adding more color and depth without losing any of the intimacy and tenderness of his previous solo albums. "Dreaming Another Life" sets the intention for the rest of Beautiful Thing, with abstract electronics draped over a subtly insistent beat that only gets more danceable as the song unfolds. Goldsworthy helps Taylor incorporate electropop into his solo music without sounding too much like Hot Chip -- which is no small feat, since Taylor's voice is one of the band's most distinctive aspects.
Drawing from a number of influences, Beautiful Thing is a wondrous optimistic float through space.
Some artists use solo albums to experiment outside the day job while others cut the background noise.
Since the release of Hot Chip’s ‘Why Make Sense?’ in 2015, frontman Alexis Taylor has conceived three solo albums. His latest Tim
It's on the slow-burning ballads where Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor's 'Beautiful Thing' excels - but the real highlight is a country track.
Throughout, Alexis Taylor is prone to polar extremes of either mopey self-doubt or contrived affirmation.
For many, Alexis Taylor's, gravity-defying voice is always going to be synonymous with British electro band Hot Chip.
'Beautiful Thing' by Alexis Taylor: Alexis Taylor lets his quirks take control in our review of 'Beautiful Thing'
The erstwhile Hot Chip singer’s latest solo release contains joyful songs that really speak to each other