Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future
On the first proper Underworld record in half a decade, the duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith continue to place matters of the heart at the center of their best songs.
For a healthy portion of Gen-Y American music fans, the sound of electronic music’s potential for emotionally stirring resonance was heralded by a single track: “Born Slippy (NUXX),” the thunderously anthemic song from the 1996 Trainspotting soundtrack. The ’90s arrival of a new kind of European house music on U.S.…
Sometimes you have to look back to move forward, and by doing that, Underworld have made their best album in almost twenty years.
In the six years since the release of their merely good effort Barking, electronica veterans Underworld were tied up with big things, like solo projects, Eno collaborations, film scores, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where they were musical directors for the opening ceremony.
Arriving some three decades after Underworld first started scheming, this is far from a tired cash-in from a pair of past-their-best geezers.
Underworld have always hid a decidedly punk aesthetic beneath their crunching electronics.
Underworld occupy a curious place amongst dance music’s ruling Olympians. Elements of their catalogue (particularly 1994’s
If the album’s ambitions feel scaled down, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith come away ahead for it.
Underworld - Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future review: Creative and melodic, this is a step forward in their career...
The return of Rick Smith and Karl Hyde finds the pair peaking early. Review by Barney Harsent