Album Review: Primal Scream Chaosmosis

Sonic flower children, acid rock pioneers, punk disco crossover fetishists, the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world. During their 34 years together, Primal Scream have been all these things and more – so much so that when you press play on a new Scream record, you’re never quite sure what to expect. And even then, they can still surprise you.

The fact that they have recruited Californian easy-listening ensemble Haim and pop siren Sky Ferreira as collaborators is telling. Chaosmosis is without a doubt the most radio-friendly, laid-back and downright commercial album Bobby Gillespie and his madcap band of lunatic Scots have ever recorded.

One of the Haim collaborations, ‘100% Or Nothing’, is among the heaviest hitters here,
combining the driving rock of Give Out But Don’t Give Up with the dancefloor friendly Screamadelica, the three sisters putting in a proper shift in the soulful backing vocals department. The other immediately outstanding effort is ‘Golden Rope’, which is Primal Scream doing what they do best: subverting genres, as elements of stoner rock, gospel, electronica and even a saxophone solo are melder together. Lead single, ‘Where The Light Gets In’ is a funky electopop stomper, Gillespie trading vocals with Sky Ferreira, while the synth city that is ‘Carnival Of Fools’ could be Depeche Mode in the early ’80s.

The sub two-minute electroclash of ‘When The Blackout Meets The Fallout’ serves as a wake-up call of just how demented and dangerous the Scream in full flow can be. But weirdly, much of Chaosmosis plays like the soundtrack to an Austin Powers film, whether it be the trippy ‘(Feeling Like A) Demon Again’, the disco sleaze of ‘Trippin’ On Your Love’, once again featuring Haim, or the spacey synth-pop opera of ‘Autumn In Paradise’. ‘I Can Change’ sees Gillespie reborn as a lounge lizard, and the result is more than a little creepy, as is the eerie pastoral duet with Canadian chanteuse Rachel Zeffira, ‘Private Wars’.

After all Primal Scream’s genre-bending over the past three decades, Chaosmosis feels like an intriguing stab at easy listening from a band who are at their best when they’re at their most dangerous.

Key Track: 'Golden Rope'

Out March 18 on Ignition

6/10