{"id":17562,"date":"2018-08-06T12:22:55","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rockhaq.com\/?p=17562"},"modified":"2018-08-06T12:32:17","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:32:17","slug":"album-review-new-order-technique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockhaq.com\/1546951672250\/?p=17562","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: New Order – Technique"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cover of New Order\u2019s 1989 release, Technique<\/em>, depicts a cherub upon a gradient of pinks and purples. Peter Saville, New Order\u2019s long-time sleeve designer suggested, retrospectively, that this was to reflect the hedonism of the time, an ode to the drug-fuelled excess of the 1980s. While this may be true, the striking cover can also be seen as a break with the past. New Order\u2019s previous covers had been somewhat muted, the monotone cover of 1985\u2019s Low-Life<\/em>, the brazen aluminium of 1986\u2019s Brotherhood<\/em>, even the pops of colour in 1983\u2019s Power, Corruption and Lies<\/em> cover seemed subdued somehow. The music reflects this. Similarly, the music held within Technique reflects its cover – a break with the past in favour for an embracing of all the musical touches New Order had previously only hinted at; a complete celebration of dance.<\/p>\n

Technique is timeless \u2013 not in the music, which couldn\u2019t have come from any other year (the acid-soaked synth arpeggios of \u2018Fine Time\u2019 sound dated even with remastering) – but it remains timeless through New Order\u2019s transcending melancholy. Guitarist and vocalist Bernard Sumner has never hit such a peak as a lyricist, his oft-ridiculed half-baked lyrics giving way for something that is universal and frankly gorgeous. Sincerity is mixed with anger to form a wide emotional palette, from the lamenting \u2018Guilty Partner,\u2019 to the optimistic \u2018Run,\u2019 to the lust-fuelled \u2018Fine Time.\u2019<\/p>\n

Never have lines such as \u201cBut I know that I\u2019m okay\/ \u2018Cause you\u2019re here with me today,\u201d infused with an emotional simplicity that only Sumner and his na\u00efvely strained voice could possibly hope to pull off without sounding clich\u00e9d, hit such an emotional resonance. The masterstroke of the first side is undoubtedly \u2018Love Less\u2019, which is pure heartbreak condensed into just three minutes of pop bliss. It unites anger: “It\u2019s not your right to be, such much my enemy\u201d, sorrow :\u201cI spent a lifetime working on you and you won\u2019t even talk to me\u201d and eventual consolation: \u201cI don\u2019t know why even try, because it all comes down to this.\u201d \u2018Love Less,\u2019 as a song, is masterful.<\/p>\n

Colour, melancholia and optimism come together in one album to create an experience that no other band apart from New Order could pull off. As a summation of four albums, each a perfect in their own right, Technique is a masterpiece.
\n – Kieran Baddeley<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, none of Sumner\u2019s lyrics would hit quite so hard without the incredible backing that the rest of New Order provide. Gillian Gilbert\u2019s synths trickle over \u2018Round and Round\u2019 like rain on a roof, while Sumner provides one of his catchiest choruses. Hooky\u2019s bass, which finally became an integrated instrument on Brotherhood<\/em>, rather than something to pop in and out of the song when the other musicians had finished, reaches a peak on \u2018Guilty Partner,\u2019 grounding Sumner\u2019s lilting guitar and out-doing The Cure at their own game.<\/p>\n

The peak of Technique (and in my opinion, New Order\u2019s defining moment) is saved till last, with \u2018Dream Attack\u201d. Sumner\u2019s lyrics drive a wistful verse, surrounded by layers of his own guitar before Gilbert\u2019s synth take over and seethe into Stephen Morris\u2019 drum programming to punctuate every word of Sumner\u2019s chorus of \u201cI don\u2019t belong to no one but I wanna be with you.\u201d The final two minutes can be seen as New Order\u2019s best moment, turned up to full volume, Sumner – one of the best and most underrated guitar players of his generation – plays one of his best solos, accompanied by an ever-driving synth line, highlighted with Stephen Morris\u2019 best drumming. It\u2019s purely magnificent.<\/p>\n

It is this outro that brings the review full circle. Such a pummelling musical break transcends everything New Order had done before and also serves as the end of an era. New Order had wrung everything they could out of the 1980s and in doing so, ushered in a new decade with the best album they had made or ever would make. Colour, melancholia and optimism come together in one album to create an experience that no other band apart from New Order could pull off. As a summation of four albums, each a perfect in their own right, Technique is a masterpiece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cover of New Order\u2019s 1989 release, Technique, depicts a cherub upon a gradient of pinks and purples. Peter Saville, New Order\u2019s long-time sleeve designer suggested, retrospectively, that this was to reflect the hedonism of the time, an ode to the drug-fuelled excess of the 1980s. While this may be true, the striking cover can also be seen as a break with the past. New Order\u2019s previous covers had been somewhat muted, the monotone cover of 1985\u2019s Low-Life, the brazen aluminium of 1986\u2019s Brotherhood, even the pops of colour in 1983\u2019s Power, Corruption and Lies cover seemed subdued somehow. The music reflects this. Similarly, the music held within Technique reflects its cover – a break with the past in favour for an embracing of all the musical touches New Order had previously only hinted at; a complete celebration of dance.
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