For
Music Complete,
New Order's ninth album and first in a decade, the band signed to new label Mute and welcomed keyboardist
Gillian Gilbert back for her first recordings with them since 2001. Unfortunately, original bassist
Peter Hook, who quit in 2007, didn't return and his bass duties were taken over by
Tom Chapman, who played with
Bernard Sumner in
Bad Lieutenant. The return of
Gilbert is a clue that the band is looking to the past for inspiration here and forsaking the guitar-driven rock orientation of its last couple albums for something more balanced, if not tipped in favor of more electronic and dancefloor-oriented songs. To that end, they brought in
Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands as well as
Richard X and
Stuart Price to produce tracks. Not the most daring or forward-looking choices for collaborators, but their efforts result in some of the album's highlights.
Rowlands invests "Singularity" with some
Chemical Brothers-style punch, while "Unlearn This Hatred" has a passionate, almost industrial drive. The
Richard X-mixed "Plastic" is the most new wave-sounding moment on the record, full of sparkling surfaces and fueled by some retro sequencers. Elsewhere, the bandmembers take it upon themselves to craft songs that have more joyful bounce than one would expect from them. "Tutti Frutti" is a tricky bit of electro-disco with a rubbery electronic bassline, some vintage keyboard wash from
Gilbert, and a vocal cameo by
La Roux's
Elly Jackson. She's also on "People on the High Line," which is probably the funkiest track they've ever recorded, with finger-popping bass, house-y piano, and a beat that pulsates like a hot N.Y.C. summer night. The rest of the album features guitar-driven songs that are more in line with
New Order's recent output, with "Restless" capturing the feel of their classic early tracks. ~ Tim Sendra