The new Chromatics album “Night Drive” is not about boning, but instead wanting to bone. Wanting to bone real bad. Freakishly bad. Like it seriously sounds like someone has been hitting some late nights at the bars and cuddling with a body pillow for the last six months. Fortunately, the album’s not from a masculine point of view so we are saved from misogynistic rape rap and sensitive emo musings. In fact, it’s all Ruth Radalet whispering about how she wants your love over some hot sweaty late night Italo Disco.
When discussing this album with fellow Hipster Bullshit columnist Brian Cassidy, I summed it up by calling it “lusty as hell,” which according to Brian is a description I use too frequently (obsessively?) with albums and may link closely with personal emotional thought patterns. I would usually back off from my description sheepishly in an attempt to keep hipster cred, which is worth something between the U.S. Dollar and the Euro. I’m standing by this one though.
I mean, come on. The album opens up with a girl walking out of the bars and calling her man to set up a late night rendezvous. It’s pitch perfect too: small talk, offer to come over, a “love you” that seems just a tad off. But here’s the kicker: she tells him she’ll be over in an hour after she drives around for a while presumably because she’s a little hesitant to come over. And then we get an hour-long album that’s main lyrical content revolves around driving, night time, desire and second thoughts.
It’s a dance album blossoming out of the recently expanding Italo Disco scene that features artists like Glass Candy and Sally Shapiro. However, don’t let the fact that it’s a dance album fool you. None of these songs are floor stompers, barn burners or club jams. Most recent dance acts seemed focused on raping the levels (Justice, anyone?) and pounding people with dance beats that fly much faster than human rhythm. All of these songs move with a beat eerily close to a sexually aroused human pulse level with hardly any accompaniment beyond stray keys and hushed vocals. The minimalist style of the album pushes it to feel less like a sweaty, nasty dance floor and more like, say, the last five steps to your porch.
Much of Chromatics’ strongest material comes the way of covers (Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” and DNA’s “Hands in the Dark”) and this album is no exception with the strongest track by far being a cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” It’s the entire album in one song: minimal beginning with Radalet whispering to a lover before the beat begins to pick up like a slow sex romp as her voice gathers not loudness but emotional intensity. And when she throws out lyrics like “So much hate for the ones we love / Tell me we both matter don’t we?” it really does feel a little painful as her voice manages to balance lust and desire for love alongside the knowledge that her partner is unknowingly hurting her with his own sexual desires.
While “Night Drive” may be one of the best albums of the year, I would highly suggest regulating your intake of it. It’s powerful and there are certain moments where you might not be able to take a sexy, lonely female voice calling out for love. Let me be your doctor here. Do not use this album after any sort of major breakup. Do not use it if you have any sort of dorm crush or debilitating crush on someone you live or work with. And under no circumstances should you listen to this album when you are alone after consuming any amount of alcohol. I’m just looking out for you.
Graham Culbertson is a journalism senior and KCPR DJ. He’s also completely full of it.