Why Make Sense?

by 
AlbumMay 15 / 201510 songs, 44m 52s99%
Synthpop Indietronica
Popular Highly Rated

Though they’ve always boasted a winning sense of humor, Hot Chip are nothing if not sincere. The British outfit’s beautifully rendered sixth full-length—*Why Make Sense?*—is alive with the sort of emotional brilliance and meditative songwriting that has made them one of modern pop’s most rewarding listens. While the house-driven single “Need You Now” makes expert use of a 1983 Sinnamon sample to make its impassioned central plea, the sumptuous slow jam “White Wine and Fried Chicken” finds frontman Alexis Taylor giving thanks—for a meal and “a new place to stay/where my heart has permission, to sing all the day.”

7.3 / 10

With Why Make Sense?, Hot Chip continue to capture pure joy while acknowledging the limits of such a quest. They've always been traditionalists at heart, making pop songs that utilize the vocabularies of house, R&B, and hip-hop rather than the other way around.

B

Why Make Sense?, the latest album from British electronic band Hot Chip, wants to woo you. It’s a late-night record, made for both bedroom serenades and last-call slow-jams alike. The group’s dance music has always mixed a healthy dose of reverence in with its hedonism, extolling the beauty of both the fleeting and…

6 / 10

8 / 10

The London five-piece present a wonderful and paradoxical pop collage of modern life.

Hot Chip have revealed that their fourth album will be released on February 8 and will be named ‘One Life Stand’.

8.5 / 10

The key theme of Hot Chips career has always been balancetheir blend of organic and electronic elements, of silliness and poignancy.

London indie dance geeks capture the highs of their live gigs on sixth album

Check out our album review of Artist's Why Make Sense? on Rolling Stone.com.

The sound of a band still exploring.

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8 / 10

Hot Chip's sixth studio album, Why Make Sense?, marks a departure from a number of characteristics that have defined the band over time. To...

7.5 / 10

Hot Chip have built a career on transcending and challenging the parameters of dance music.

Subtle changes of tone create a lovely blend of breezy funk and towering, emotional house

7 / 10

Why Make Sense? is Hot Chip’s characteristically polished, generously tuneful tribute to wearing your heart on your sleeve.

7 / 10

Not many current acts will make it toasixth album, but Hot Chips latest reflects their growing maturity and comprehensive knowledge of dance music.

85 %

After years of fruitful cult success, Hot Chip has become one of the last surviving bastions of contemporary danceable post-punk, outlasting everyone from the Rapture to their good friends in LCD Soundsystem.

Album Reviews: Hot Chip - Why Make Sense?

The band's sixth album has some good moments, but lacks consistency. Album review by Barney Harsent