us a close family and together we combine all the genres.’ Their newest studio album Business Casual is set to be another sensation, described as a blend between Fancy Footwork and more balladry stuff. There are a few surprises on the album with Solange Knowles tapping into the ring performing the vocals in ‘When the Night Falls’ and it may be of interest to note Cassius member Philipe Zdar lent a hand and mixed the album. Patrick is more than happy to outline the basis for the album. ‘We tried to make it a bit more musical and didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously. We wanted to focus on just having fun and getting the dance floor fired, but keeping it interesting for everyone and us at the same time.’ Turning to the Chromeo back catalogue, Fancy Footwook, their second and most often touted as the sound-defining album, destroyed dance floors worldwide with a string of club hits like ‘Momma’s Boy, ‘Bonafied Lovin’ and ‘Fancy Footwork’. Promoted as a huge success over their debut album She’s In Control, Patrick pointed out the reasons for the dramatic turn in audience opinion, ‘it was all about experience – experience in the studio, better experience mixing, more experience in song writing and a bit of natural progression’ While trying to avoid harking back to their prior albums there is an interesting story around their debut She’s In Control. While not claimed as a huge success by Chromeo, critics reviewed it positively and the track ‘Needy Girl’ became a club sensation. Strangely it was picked up by Reece’s Peanut
Butter Cups for an advertisement while other tracks from the album were used by Heinekin and McDonalds. Regardless there was no mistaking the public’s love of ‘Needy Girl’ and as Patrick puts it, ‘it was like a door opening, it went worldwide and people played it everywhere. Initially we thought it was the best song on the album, and it’s still in the top three if not the best. Now we’re a bit over it, it’s an oldie but a goodie – we can afford not to play it or play around with it. It was our first semi-hit, where we realised we could actually make it.’ Despite the personal negativity towards the album it did come with a silver lining of steering the future direction of Chromeo. ‘Partially, it was our first experimentation – we made mistakes, we had some amazing highlights, but we learnt so much and it’s what made Fancy Footwork that much better. Getting into Fancy Footwork we were going back to measure against it and take those highlights and just improve – we wanted to draw on the good stuff. She’s In Control had a couple of good songs, but in general we were still defining our sound and looking for the perfect balance. You can hear we’re still fiddling around with everything, but in the second album we solidified our real sound and made the sound that is Chromeo. Catch them and their party-rocking, clubbanging and heart-thrilling electrofunk at Rhythm and Vines this New Year’s Eve. BY WILL SEAL.
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