Two Door Cinema Club’s “Gameshow,” released Friday, is a landmark album for the Irish trio. Not only does it serve as a re-emergence for the band since their last album in 2012, but the “Beacon” successor seems to have miraculously learned time travel. The third album transports fans back to the days of 1970’s disco dance floors, artificial beats and incoherent falsettos.
Once a self-proclaimed “alteronica” group that focused on upbeat, sophisticated, authentic tunes, Two Door Cinema Club’s new sound proves to be entirely synthetic, cynical and a bit uninspired.
“Gameshow” wears its development and production process on its sleeve. Following the success of “Beacon” and a whirlwind year of festivals, shows and promotion performances, vocalist Alex Trimble, guitarist Sam Halliday and bassist Kevin Baird went their separate ways. They took a Fall Out Boy-esque break in hopes that a little self discovery and some dabbling with solo projects would ease the pressure that formed on the road.
Fortunately for fans, the musicians never strayed far from their roots, writing “Gameshow” over Skype and email and finally reuniting in 2015.
The tensions that inevitably developed from 18 months apart, however, are reflected on the album. It lacks a cohesive writing process and sounds as if it was made entirely on a computer. The first sign of genuine, live sound does not come until the fourth song and title track “Gameshow,” when listeners can just make out clapping and faint guitar instrumentals.
The first track, “Are We Ready? (Wreck),” is full of discotheque rhythm and mainstream-pop patterns that fail at mimicking the indie-dance duo Matt and Kim. Track 3, “Ordinary,” begins with beats that echo a ringing cell phone and “Surgery” is simply synthetic, static noise.
While the album opener mirrors some redeeming aspects of “Beacon,” subsequent song “Bad Decisions” makes it clear that TDCC are going in a completely new direction with their comeback album.
“Bad Decisions” manages to encompass aspects of Prince and cultish chanting at the same time. It repeats “generation information” not one, not two, but seven times in a row in an almost Satanic manner. The song is a clear commentary of consumerism and modern culture, which makes its bougie undertones all the more curious.
Just when loyal fans of old-school TDCC are ready to call it quits, track lucky No. 7 arrives. Although seemingly out of place, the ballad “Invincible” successfully incorporates the album’s synthetic vibe with powerful lyrics such as “I pretend I was good to you / That you’re always on my mind / For a moment you believed it too.”
Listeners are finally able to hear Trimble’s distinctive vocals amidst the electric guitar and bona fide music. The song follows the ‘70s trend of the album but does so in a way that elicits nostalgia and emotion.
“Good Morning” is also a diamond in the rough. It reveals remnants of early TDCC and, despite its disillusioned lyrics, features the upbeat background expected from a Two Door Cinema Club hit.
Yet, the remainder of the album returns to the synthesized, unvarying songs that point fingers at 21st century materialistic lifestyle. The message seems to castigate the very style of consumerist culture that put “Beacon” at No. 2 on United Kingdom charts and helped to sell out countless TDCC performances. “Gameshow” is the mid-life crisis of “alteronica;” it desperately tries to reinvent the genre and make a name for itself, but it becomes lost amongst creative mishap.
Nonetheless, Two Door Cinema Club’s efforts to emerge from hiatus should not go without some praise. The funky beats of “Gameshow” certainly have fans talking about what angle the group could possibly be trying to take, and it holds potential as far as third albums go. Two Door cannot be blamed for exploring new styles and venturing to new inspirations, even if those inspirations may take one step forward and two steps (or 40 years) back. It is unfortunate that the execution of this risky left turn resulted in such an unimpressionable imitation of a long-lost genre.
