The Lo Fidelity Allstars certainly aim to please.
After a three year hiatus from producing original material, "Don't Be Afraid of Love" presents a band that has not only dramatically changed since its previous album, but dramatically changed for the better. "Afraid" is an ambitious hodgepodge that succeeds beyond all expectations.
As the band members themselves have acknowledged, the title of the album immediately takes a fan of the band off guard; the title is intended, however, as an ironic nod to their past reputation as egotistical urban hooligans. Intriguingly, the theme of love is incorporated into the album to a much higher - and much more sympathetic - degree than in the Allstars' previous work.
The album starts out in typical Lo Fi fashion with an entrancing intro track that's reflected throughout the entire album. The listener is struck by one profound difference: "What You Want," the aforementioned track, is - dare I say it? - happy. Don't let the initial dissonance be a distraction; the anger, intensity and "hardcore punk paste" of "Blown" are in fact entirely missing. In their place is vivacity and eagerness. The lyrics, formerly geared towards societal ramblings, now seem concerned with simply giving the audience worthy dance music.
Much of this can be attributed to the departure of the frontman of the band, the infamously Gallagher-esque Wrekked Train, immediately following the production of "Blown." Rumored to have recorded past lyrics while strolling London with nothing but a microphone and lager, Train was the focal point and potency of prior material.
His departure has had an undeniable impact on the band's style, but curiously, the absence of what formerly was considered the band's substance is compensated for astonishingly well. Wrekked Train's vocals, although inordinately powerful, imposed definite limits on the Lo Fi's style. One could not imagine, for instance, a pop (gasp) track reminiscent of the 1970s with the brashness of Train's bark infiltrating the melody.
Pop is most certainly fair game on this album. "Feel What I Feel" brings an acute suspicion that the Lo Fi's CD has been replaced with "Spiceworld." A nauseatingly upbeat 1970s flashback, the track screams single - it's hard to imagine a less likely successor to the last single to break the U.S. charts, the anthemic "Battleflag."
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The retro tendencies of the album's material are similarly apparent in the soul tracks of "Afraid." Although the Allstars briefly ventured into soul on the previous album, the use of the genre on "Afraid" is far from tangential. "On the Pier," featuring none other than Bootsy Collins, is a slow but strutting ballad that absolutely smolders.
Another collaboration, this time with Jamie Lidell, is "Deep Ellum," the funky second track that ignites the spark developed by "What You Want." After a divergent house track, "Lo Fi's in Ibiza," Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs contributes to "Somebody Needs You," which falls nothing short of a swagger. The collaborations fill the void left by the lack of a true frontman in the band, but also unfortunately lead to a distracting sense of disorganization.
One thing makes possible the miscellaneous nature of the album: the Lo Fidelity Allstars are the Lo Fidelity Allstars. The arrogance that pushed "Battleflag" and made "Blown" did not markedly diminish with the departure of Train. Known for self-glorification in their songs (as in "Kasparov's Revenge"), the self-references are again brought to the forefront in "Ibiza."
The new album's brazen jumble of genres reflects a fierce ambition that could perhaps only have arisen with the confidence and force that "Blown" embodied. One could argue, however, that "Afraid" is the brilliant result of a band that simply has nothing left to lose.
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