The Juan MacLean - The Future Will Come

From the opening moments of The Simple Life, it is clear what kind of album The Future Will Come will be. The driving beats, the relentless hi-hats, even the ubiquitous cowbell mark this well and truly as a DFA album. That is not to say it is indistinguishable from any other album on the label, more that it fits into this mould while affirming its own identity.

Each track on The Juan MacLean’s new album is captivating in its own right, as well as adding up to form a coherent body of work that can be listened to in bits or in one go.

The album’s title is ironic, given the nods paid to older tracks. The Station and new single One Day call to mind The Human League, as male and female vocals argue over throbbing beats, while No Time even hints towards Mylo’s Drop The Pressure. Conversely, A New Bot is the most awkwardly futuristic track on the album.

Tonight, the album’s centrepiece, drifts through on a host of melancholic instrumentation, as acid basslines are topped off with mournful trumpets and out of tune pianos, while Nancy Whang sings of “all the love in this place.” The curious balance of such contented lyrics and more elegiac melodies is maintained until the album’s closer, last year’s epic Happy House. This choice of finale is fitting, as its warm piano riff and joyful lyrics are lent an air of darkness, undermined almost, by the preceding Human Disaster.

While such regretful undertones permeate the album it is definitely one which will get bodies moving. It’s only April, but if a funkier album comes along this year I will be very surprised.