While I do consider myself a pop head who loves dancey music, I’ve never really explored much house music. I like what I have heard, but it just
hasn’t crossed my radar as much as some other genres, and I am even less experienced with French House. With all of that said, I know that the two biggest names in French House are Daft Punk and Justice. Both have had at least one major hit, though it is pretty easy to see that Daft Punk are the more commercially successful act. Even with that in mind, Justice should still not be counted out. Their hit song D.A.N.C.E. and their whole Cross album are celebrated for a reason.
They provided a worthy alternative to Daft Punk, and while they did not end up being as consistent as the legendary duo, they never stopped making music. This leads us to this year’s new Justice album, Hyperdrama. I admittedly have not listened to the albums that came out between Cross and this one, but I feel like the context is not necessary. On Hyperdrama, Justice not only rise above their house roots, but provide a trippy, dynamic dance experience to anyone who is willing to give them a chance and see that they have evolved beyond the Daft Punk comparisons.
Opening this album with a Tame Impala feature was a very fitting choice. Neverender is a hypnotic electro jam about reflecting on hard times but persevering through life anyway. Tame Impala is a bit filtered vocally but it completely works. The haziness of it gets less and less as the sunny yet dreamy beat builds. The chorus features booming bass and layered vocals. Then it weaves in and out of momentum, adding and removing electro bass drums and synths throughout. Towards the end of the song there’s even some glitchy elements in the bridge, and the hazy filter for the vocals from the beginning of the track makes a comeback. Of course given the song’s pop sensibilities, it exploded after the bridge for a final chorus that is always cathartic given the punch of the production. All of these elements make Neverender an abstract, hypnotic and dancey jam. It absolutely hooked me onto the album and immediately made me trust Justice, truly feeling hopeful for the rest of the album.
Thankfully that hope was not misplaced. From here the momentum (mostly) doesn’t stop. The track immediately after the opener, Generator, has futuristic synths, booming drums, and a cyberpunk atmosphere that would not be out of place on an industrial rock album. It sounds like a less guitar driven version of a track from the modern DOOM games. The chaos of it all is glorious and almost sinister.
Granted, the whole album isn’t just beating the listener over the head with synths. There are tracks such as Incognito that take the dancey approach of what one might expect from a Justice song, then add atmosphere to it. It even opens with a glitzy intro that sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place in an enchanted forest. It then leads into an ominous yet dancey techno section that uses a fittingly ominous vocal sample that almost sounds like it’s saying “breathe”. It was truly enchanting, especially as the outro brings back the glitzy intro, serving to bookend the track.
As great as the atmosphere was on Incognito, I was sure the duo could do even better in that department, and they pulled it off in spades. There is a stretch of songs towards the end of the album that go all in on the atmospheric elements of Hyperdrama. It starts out with Moonlight Rendez-vous, which has a light jazz section at the beginning followed by a bit of spacey ambient that wouldn’t be out of place on a Berlin-era Bowie album. These elements combine halfway through the song to create a truly lovely feeling. The song is simple but effective. Horns, light drums and futuristic keys do most of the work. Following this is Explorer which is a bit more dense, although still fairly ambient. This track has some truly chaotic synths and a slow drum rhythm. This is built on with more futuristic synths later in the song. It sounds like a loss of hope, like a game over theme for a game from the year 3000 and I love it. It even ends with a vocoded performance from Connan Mockasin. It sounds like an alien singing in an apathetic manner, not caring about the desolation around him. This section is capped off with the track Muscle Memory, which starts out with a beautiful ambient section but almost immediately cuts to a chip tune driven march rhythm. It slowly builds into what I can only describe as a spacey wasteland theme. Glitzy synths contrast well with sinister, punchy drums, and honestly end this section of the album well. The track is an odyssey of different tones and tempos that keep the listener invested.
After a cool, soulful tune in the form of Saturnine that is more upbeat than most of the second half of the album, we get The End. In this review I have been discussing the contrast between electronic jams and more atmospheric pieces across the album. Fittingly, The End combines both of these song philosophies into one amazing closer. After a very back and forth drum solo, we get a synthy passage with Thundercat beautifully singing over it. The song feels final, with the soaring vocals from Thundercat sounding very powerful. The beat here is psychedelic but also has the momentum you’d expect from Justice, especially given the first half of the album. The echoey choral vocals on the bridge not only encapsulate the more atmospheric elements of the album well, but they also make way for the final chorus which explodes and ends the album not only on a high note, but with fireworks.
This album came as a surprise to me. I like Justice but I did not take them too seriously before this album came out, considering their critical track record. With that said, I was, for the most part, blown away by Hyperdrama. Justice truly show that they know what they’re doing with electronic house on much of the album, while the rest shows they can mix things up with some genuinely great atmospheric tracks that still sound uniquely them. Even if not every idea they put forth was as mind blowing as the high points of the album, it was more than interesting enough to impress me, and I had a ton of fun being impressed. Hyperdrama truly proves that Justice are more than just Daft Punk alternatives, they are a creative force all their own.
9/10
