The Scream have returned with something that harks back to their disco-punk yesteryears, it’s a return to form following 2013’s More Light which promised so much but wobbled slightly along the way. Chaosmosis is Primal Scream’s eleventh studio effort, a significant stretch by any musician’s career – what it does on the whole is show off an experimental edge to the band that hasn’t been visited since 2002’s Evil Heat. Chaosmosis as an album title gets what the music is trying to say, it’s humble-jumble blending of words mirrors the real experiment and allure packed away in the album. So far, we have been gifted with the single ‘Where The Light Gets In’, an 80s electro-funker that shows off how Gillespie can tag team with this generation’s biggest female indie-rock name, Sky Ferreira. Neon lights were omitted from the album before its release and this has generally set the theme for the album on the whole with it’s startlingly LED fuelled cover art.

Opening the album is ‘Trippin’ On Your Love’ – a song that is a throwback to their infamous Screamadelica days. An album that brought happiness, freedom and joy to many happy-go-lucky, dance floors up and down the country but is this still relevant all these years on? Perhaps not, at least not in terms of musical direction, it doesn’t feel to fit in with the dark, experimental tint of Chaosmosis on the whole, nor does it feel that relevant in terms of what they are trying to prove as a musical outfit. However it’s too easy to lament songs like this – it fits in the sense that it is a feel-good song and ultimately, that’s what Primal Scream do best. Any miserable cynic can turn a blind eye to this song and pour scorn upon it but essentially, this is what has always made Gillespie and co so fantastic. Why can’t we be happy? Gillespie coos and howls over the start as the machine of Primal Scream rumble underneath in, well, a primal fashion and we should love it.

From here the album swoops through the darker days of 80s disco, giving taps to Krautrock friends along the way. ‘(Feeling Like A) Demon Again’ runs its course through bouncing keyboard lines with a warm, fuzzy synth swelling below. Gillespie’s voice builds to euphoric choruses that throw you left, then right and forward through clubbing heydays; it’s the type of music that is set to get those 4am parties moving again and takes you back to their XTRMNTR years; here Primal Scream begin to get the engine of Chaosmosis ticking. ‘I Can Change’ continues this theme with its R’n’B underbelly which Gillespie’s voice hovers so elegantly above; it points half towards the Amorphous Androgynous electronic/dub whilst bringing with it hints of Arctic Monkey’s AM work. It’s a confident move three tracks in, suggesting that Primal Scream can produce albums packed with diversity – age really is bringing wisdom as they now have a bag of influences which they appear to casually hand pick from at their leisure. ‘100% Or Nothing’ packs with it a throbbing electronic chorus that is bound to confirm its addition to the single’s list – once again consolidating their nature as one of the UK’s greatest live bands, this one is set to raise the roof on their upcoming intimate UK tour. Huge, four-to-the-floor drums pound in a tribal fashion throughout, like a pit bull on a short lead, it throttles, tugs and yanks in all directions before finally getting loose. It’s a violent song that really commands your every movement.

Where Chaosmosis begins to falter is in the mid-to-tail end section of the album, the songs here feel awkwardly placed or perhaps are those that add little to the album. The likes of ‘Private Wars’, ‘Carnival of Fools’ and ‘When The Blackout Meets The Fallout’ stutter the consistency of the album. ‘Private Wars’ for example acts as the calming stop point in the middle, it slows the album down but offers little in terms of substance; it’s a delicate affair however, with Primal Scream it’s easy to get greedy. When they do something so stripped back and vacant without the typical Gillespie flood of emotion, it can feel absent as a song and seem a bit of a cop-out. Take the likes of ‘Damaged’ from Screamadelica, a song that was admittedly stripped back, however it still packed so much emotion and sentiment within it. ‘When The Blackout Meets The Fallout’ demonstrates a dark, gloomy and pounding disco-punk feel but once again, it just appears a bit cheap and tacky. It brings about the haunting image of when you were 15, watching your dad and his mates toy around with your make shift home studio after too many cans of Stella. It is largely symbolic of Chaosmosis as an album – an experimental affair that pushes into new territory for Primal Scream and by the far and large, veers on the right side of experimental, however occasionally it tilts a bit too far in the other direction. ‘Carnival of Fools’ continues this awkward feel. Irritating synth lines dance around on the surface that just seem too trebly and prominent, it harks back to the terrifying EDM music of the 90s. The song in general just doesn’t seem to demonstrate too much interesting creativity from the group, it appears too stitched together and the chorus, rather than wave proudly like on those songs at the beginning of the album, suffers under the strangling constraints of the experimental electronic music around it.

The climax comes in strength though; the likes of ‘Golden Rope’ and ‘Autumn In Paradise’ play around with themes previously explored by early Kasabian – they pack in euphoric messages, balanced upon monstrous synth sounds. ‘Golden Rope’ in particular plays with Indian and Far Eastern melodies and sounds, intercutting the tribal, Western dance music – it provides an optimistic and conclusive message that Primal Scream really are fantastically aware musical pioneers. Similarly, the closer for Chaosmosis – ‘Autumn In Paradise’ is a remarkably delicate affair, the kind of thing that would have suited ‘Private Wars’ earlier on. It’s blissfully demonstrating the likes of Ariel Pink and the neon glitz of 80s music, it would be fitting on Venice Beach and find the beauty in sleaze with its lingering, hooking guitar line.

Chaosmosis, ultimately reflects a developing Primal Scream. It shows a band that utilise all the experience and sounds they have accumulated as a group over the years and proves how they toy with the concepts, and at times produce some of their best work. Sometimes it slips and falters as an album, either through trying too hard to live up to their pioneering, experimental nature or stripping it back and seeming to pull through with material a little too cheaply. What is good news for the Scream though is that they are still going and, if not firing on all cylinders yet, you get the sense they are finding their way and coming close once more. This is certainly the best they have released in a decade.
Tom Churchill

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