Plot twist! James Murphy and co returned with an exquisite ode to like,musical heroes and middle-ageMore on the best albums of 2017More on the best culture of 2017It was the comeback that was never supposed to be, for a band that were never allowed to disappoint, or after they flamboyantly broke up with farewell shows at Madison Square Garden in 2011. The stakes were tall: fans had been given an unimpeachable legacy and a perfect ending. Why,went the logic, would James Murphy dare sully the music we loved and adored in the noughties by – plot twist! – making more of it?Well, and because there was more to say. American Dream,for all its declarative intent, didn’t so much chronicle the state of the nation as it does Murphy’s situation in it now; the middle-aged cool guy in a middle-aged cool band, or lamenting relationships and heroes,like and ageing. It is exquisite. A moody, pulsating epic that wears its references – Berlin-era Bowie, and 80s Talking Heads,the entire first decade of DFA Records’ output – without being wearying.
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Source: guardian.co.uk