Album Review: Two Door Cinema Club - Gameshow
By Maria Lubanovic, Contributor
[Parlophone, 2016]
Rating: 6.5/10
Key Tracks: “Are We Ready (Wreck),” “Game Show,” “Good Morning”
Gameshow is the third album of Irish indie band Two Door Cinema Club. After being on hiatus since 2012, the band is back with an album that is hard to believe. Gameshow is a huge undertaking, with 15 tracks totaling over an hour of what could basically be called a throwback album. With past hits from Tourist History and Beacon, the indie band took a turn to somewhere we would have never guessed. With a disco and electro-pop feel, the band couldn’t be farther away from who they were four years ago.
The opening track, “Are We Ready (Wreck),” is fun and electronically charged, with beautiful falsetto vocals. This is a theme for most of the album, as the band is towards a higher energy, more pop friendly than their previous work. “Bad Decisions” gives off a decidedly Bee Gees feel, with lyrics that are deeper than they seem, masked by upbeat instrumentals. It’s not bad, it's just a strange choice of style for this particular band to emulate.
The opening to “Ordinary” sounds just like the beginning of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere”, and then switches into a more modern, electronic groove. The guitar sound emulates a style that was very popular in the 80s, rather than something that is modern and indie styled. “Fever” is a track could have been made in the 70’s and nobody would have been able to tell the difference. “Gameshow” is decidedly more Two Door Cinema Club-sounding than any other track on the album. They brought their 80’s electric guitar sound for this one too. It’s such an unprecedented change from their normally clean and simple sound.
From the perspective of reviewing a disco-esque throwback album, it is fresh, fun, and worth at least a listen. From the perspective of reviewing a Two Door Cinema Club album, it's a turn towards a new, confusing style going into the future. It sounds like they got a hold of their parent’s cassette tapes and decided to make an album based on those. It’s not bad, just unexpected, and hopefully not a permanent style change.
