LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening Review

To go out on top is the artist’s dream. LCD Soundsystem was afforded this opportunity and snatched at it with an urgency equivalent to a rabid animal. They wanted out. This is Happening offered them a chance to go out on their own terms. James Murphy and company would return years later but for a half-decade, the band seemed thoroughly spent. Wiped of their creative output and fearing for themselves on the road, the chance to break free was too good to pass. Some will conspire that the reason for announcing their breakup was to move more tickets but with quality like this, it is hard to consider there being any truth to it. Some of their best songs featured on their third and at-the-time final album. This is Happening feels like a last gasp, a David Bowie-referencing hit shop where Murphy lays out his best work. 

Pat Mahoney, Al Doyle and Nancy Whang all contribute lyrics to this one but the best of This is Happening is Murphy in isolation. The likes of Dance Yrself Clean, All I Want and Home are essentials. A trio of tracks which highlight the growth LCD Soundsystem had made over the course of three albums. Their partying days were long behind them and a desire to rid themselves of the booze-soaked house parties, instead returning to their houses and cleaning up. This is Happening is a chance for the band to expel their demons and focus on new desires which open themselves up after closure is gained. LCD Soundsystem are not greedy or grifters for returning to the stage. Nobody should pass up the opportunity to seal a perfect run – and their return did not spoil the fun. In fact, the likes of Dance Yrself Clean and I Can Change find new life in their mature status. 

Brash tones conclude a six-year stint as band members. One Touch implies this rebirth through a jolt of new energy which never comes. All I Want provides a clear insight into the distance between Murphy as an artist and as a person. He may have fallen to the side on the front cover of This is Happening but this desire to leap into the great unknown, to never be heard from again, overwhelms the album. The only trouble with wanting to become elusive is bowing out on a high. People want more when they hear you at your best and this is what This is Happening and The Long Goodbye present. LCD Soundsystem hit the ground running. A fine blur of electronic whirrs and matured lyrical impressions are present as they finally hit their peak. It is the reason they downed tools. 

LCD Soundsystem had hinted at calling time on the opening of This is Happening. They felt themselves expired, not artistically, but physically. More to offer but no meaningful way of showcasing it. There is an affinity for the stage but also a dejected approach to it. Pow Pow documents it well. This fear of discovering fatigue is charted well through This is Happening, a challenging listen despite its intensely joyous array of instrumentals. Album closer Home is not just a hope of returning to the eponymous place, but a feeling of thanks settles in. Murphy and the band had made the road their home and yet, for those who have seen Shut Up and Play the Hits, there is a sense of relief when the curtain falls. For six years LCD Soundsystem enjoyed that rest, and This is Happening is a reminder of burnout, bowing out and respecting yourself.