LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver Review

Too pop for the band, too electronic for the top of the charts. Sound of Silver is not a departure from anything LCD Soundsystem did on their self-titled debut but an attempt to play ball with wider audiences. James Murphy and the gang do not flirt with a push for popularity. It would shine through on the exceptional but obvious single All My Friends. No, they start with much the same love for whirring blinks and tech which moulded the best bits of their first record. Get Innocuous starts with a rising flurry. An album which adds layer after layer. Murphy is a skilled hand for this record. He leans further into his vulnerability as a vocalist (despite being horrified by his voice) and wraps himself and the band in this flurry of monotonous beats. But the tedium is part of the charm – a swing at the dullness of life.  

Conformity and normalisation will not bring you to those awakenings you clamour for. Sound of Silver is not so much a dance-punk record as it is a swinging, electronic dismantling of what people hold dear. People (Someone Great), places (New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down) and periods of anxiety (Time to Get Away) all flow through this second LCD Soundsystem record. They are the issues of the day and still linger almost twenty years on from release. Murphy is on hand to capture the static felt by the issues of the here and now, this desire for autonomy in the face of difficulty. Sound of Silver has all the clangs of metallic indifference but within is a deeply personal triumph. Each track cements this quality-of-life argument and the lack of bleed into each track means every part of Sound of Silver fights for its hit against indifference. 

They believe they are pop-chasing scum. North American Scum bleeds into Someone Great. This desire to see the influences as all-time greats and themselves as posers trying to push themselves into a genre which will not take them is the defiant joy present in LCD Soundsystem records before and after Sound of Silver. Tensions keep coming and LCD Soundsystem presents warning after warning. Someone Great tries to keep us in line with those who influence us for the better while album closer New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down is an example of toxic relationships which need an ending. Sound of Silver does not just try and process this but brings about strong arguments, incredible mixtures of instrumentals and a sound like nothing they would do again. It is the band at their most pop-oriented and fascinating.  

Before was the ragtag rush of a debut band and after came a solidified rejection of their popularity. Sound of Silver is the usual run of a big band trying to get bigger before the self-made fall. But within is a sense of fear. They do not truly want the mass appeal and scupper their chances almost intentionally by reducing themselves to scum who cannot bring themselves to connect with the world around them – not without grieving for a future they have yet to have. Even in their most joyous moments of pop, All My Friends is unconvinced by where it is headed. A minute-long piano intro which confuses pub landlords who think their jukebox is on the brink. No, LCD Soundsystem had not lost what made them an underground hit and despite their successes with Sound of Silver and the boom of quality to come from it, their hearts were not in it for the long haul. No wonder they downed tools after This is Happening.  

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