Search - Chicane :: Somersault

The seven-year itch

Shawn Elliott | Bumblef*ck, VA USA | 08/11/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"On a business trip to London in 2000, my father bought a copy of "Behind The Sun" as a souvenir for me. Having been raised to that point on an unlikely combination of family-friendly southern radio pop, German industrial, and Mike Oldfield, it took me months (literally) before I was able to appreciate Nick Bracegirdle's artistry. Eventually, though, "Behind the Sun" and "Far from the Maddening Crowds" earned permanent places in my personal list of the top-ten albums of all time -- even if I find something better eventually, these will stay on principle alone, to say nothing of their qualifications.



It's been seven years since Nick Bracegirdle put out a new album. In that time, I discovered a wide range of electronica to fill the void -- Jean-Michel Jarre, Orbital, Massive Attack, Rinocerose, Trance[]Control, Royksopp, Portal (local trance group from England), more Mike Oldfield -- and much of it is worthy of its own praise, but none of it was Chicane. I suppose it is for this reason that I'm dissapointed that "Somersault" is *also* not Chicane.



The album isn't *bad* -- I don't want to convey that by any means. Even at its Euro-trashiest, this album is listenable, and the second half of the album (Tracks 5-10) are better than 95% of the club tracks ever made. But after waiting for seven years to hear "Behind the Sun II" or something to that effect, the poppiness of this album leaves something to be desired. To be fair, my anticipation was based on the assumption that the never-ending stream of delays was due to Nick slaving away, Mozart-style, trying to compose an "album to end all electronica albums" -- but in reality, he was on tour almost the entire time.



Excepting tracks 4 and 10 (both of which are classic Brian Eno soundscapes that Nick does so well), the new album has continuous vocals and continuous dance beats, and my reaction to this is so: If I want to hear people talking, I can go outside, and if I want to hear dance beats, I can go to a club. The reason I love "Behind the Sun" and "Far from the Maddening Crowds" is because they are the antithesis of all that. They are sonic artistry, pure and simple.



Nick, I like your style and I don't want you to be Brian Eno, but I don't want to hear techno-pop either.



-- UPDATE 7/13/2009 --



Okay, I need to revisit this. I finally got a good pair of headphones, the kind with the silicone earplug that blocks out background noise, and the guy who sings on most of the tracks really isn't that bad. It's not the ideal kind of voice for music with lyrics, in my opinion, but I think a lot of the whiney sound actually comes from post-processing -- I think the producers muted the lower frequencies of the guy's voice so they wouldn't compete with the bass in the music.



That being said, I'm not often in the mood for electronic music with vocals, so I still look forward to Chicane's next instrumental album."

SHOCKINGLY BAD!!! Worst Album I Own Out of Over 600

J. Southern | Maine | 08/30/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Unbelievable!!! I am lost for words. After producing 2 of the finest albums in the history of music what went wrong here? This album, as other reviewers have said, is nothing more than cheezy, souless garbage with no musical talent involved at all. 5 minutes on Fruity Loops software and I was able to create the exact same junk note for note, that is not 10 years of work!.



This truly is one of if not the worst albums I have ever heard or owned (and I own over 600). Nothing stands out from any one track, and track 2, well I have no idea what that is about but it is the worst track I have heard from anyone, ever!



At first I thought this album was a joke, but now I am left feeling this is Nick Bracegirdle's revenge on the world because several years ago his material for a 3rd album was stolen delaying this junk until now.



Honestly, I could not describe in enough detail how bad this album is. I can't remember a single track and rythm from any of the songs after hearing it several times and it is definately not because of the complexity of the music, it is because of its dullness and cheezyness. The vocals are terrible, euro poppy, and totally unnecessary.



What a dissapointment, stay well away, and if you have to have this album, although I would never normally encourage you do this - copy it off someone who wasted their money on it already! Before long this will be going for $9.99 not $30+. I feel so strongly about the total lack of musical talent on this album I had to write a review."

Long Wait - Disappointment - New Sound -but- Should Have Sta

W. Scheuer | Orlando, FL | 08/16/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Got the new album and gave it a once through listen. Somehow I'm disappointed. I have been waiting a LONG time for something new from Chicane and this album sounds very europopy - not the ambient trance goodness of FFTMC or Behind the Sun. Don't know exactly what I was expecting. Perhaps it's me overapplying my expectations, and every artist has the right to expand their sound and experiment with new things. Perhaps that is where this album failed. Much of the aural territory of Somersault has been tread before by others, and their steps sounded better.



Downside - my copy arrived with some surface scratches on the disc and what appears to be a manufacturing defect about 1/2 way through the written portion of the disc. I didn't hear any problems in my end-to-end listen through it, but it upsets nonetheless. I mean, spend $25 on an import disc and now have to deal with possibly getting a replacement, what a pain in the...



As far as music goes, my favourite track is probably the last on the disc - "Time Of You're Life" (strange title) which is a purely ambient work and very reminiscent of "Now We are Free" from the Gladiator soundtrack. "Stoned in Love" is a stomping dance track, and "Come Tomorrow" kind of sounds like Chicane was going for another "Don't Give Up" but the vocalist here is not as strong. "Arizona pt1" is not as fluid as "pt 2" is from the "Love on the Run" cd singles, but it's still a good track. Didn't really like "Way I'm Feelin'" as it sounds like europop filler.



In summary, I did give this album a fair listen and of course will put it into the rotation going forward. But somehow this album just didn't GRAB me like Behind the Sun or FFTMC did. I was really hoping that this album would be what "Easy to Assemble" never was. I was truly excited when ETA was announced and the first singles got released. With "Somersault" I can't help but feel that the album is a but a pale reflection of past successes woefully pasted onto lackluster europop."