Last week, Calvin Harris released his fourth studio album ‘Motion’ and, although not a ground breaking new sound, it’s likely that this will knock Taylor Swift off the top spot in the album charts next Sunday.
The album focuses on Harris’ trademark ‘club music’ sound and it’s clear many of these tracks will be played repeatedly up and down the country on every radio station, supermarket and probably in every Zumba class. Just look how the song ‘Summer’, which was released earlier this year almost as a teaser for this new album, officially wins the title of ‘most likely to get stuck in your head for 8 hours straight’. It’s one of only 3 solo tracks; the others are all collaborations with some big names such as John Newman, Ellie Goulding, Gwen Stefani, and Big Sean (who’s track ‘Open Wide’ is slowly growing on me. Slowly. Very slowly). These were smart choices: John Newman is currently rising up in the industry and his last collaboration with Ellie Goulding (‘I need you love’) hit Number 4 in the charts.
Summer officially wins the title of ‘most likely to get stuck in your head for 8 hours straight’.
Some particularly strong songs from this album are: ‘Slow Acid’ which slowly builds it’s beat keeping the song continually interesting without the need for lyrics, which is difficult to do; ‘It Was You’ featuring Firebeatz, and ‘Pray to God’ featuring HAIM which are both reminiscent of the backing track to a beach holiday montage. Both of these collaborators fit with Harris’ style perfectly while still adding to the song themselves.
One song which seems to be odd in this collection is ‘Ecstasy’ featuring Hurts, as it’s oddly slow in comparison to the others. This may just be a way of experimenting with the style as overall, the song itself is good. It just feels a little odd within the whole album as the change in tempo is quite noticeable.
Ecstasy feels odd when listening through the album as the change in tempo is quite noticeable.
Additional note for those who go to the gym: these songs are really good to workout too and, although it may not be for everyone, if you want to stay ahead on the latest clubbing tracks, this album is a must have as you probably be hearing these songs a lot over the coming months.
7/10
Image by The Independent
Abigail Houseman
