LogFAQs > #954396508

204. LCD Soundsystem How Do You Sleep? (2017)
from the album American Dream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBLagwi_m2c

Key lyrics:
I must admit
I miss the laughing
But not so much you

James Murphy has captured dozens of emotions over his four albums as LCD Soundsystem, but How Do You Sleep? stands out as his sole track tackling outright anger. Lyrics which would typically be deployed as playful jests are pure vitriol here as Murphy tears down an old friend who betrayed him on numerous levels. Murphy is happy to reference his predecessors, the title an obvious homage to the John Lennon song of the same name. But on a sonic level, this is far from Lennon, instead taking its influence from only the darkest Joy Division and New Order songs.

The song opens with something like an accelerated tribal drum pattern, the synthesizers softly in the distance. For the first three and a half minutes, James Murphy sings over this sparse sound, almost as if shouting from a distance. This is a slow burn, leading into a cathartic synthesizer burst right at that three and a half minute mark. The song again shifts near the five minute mark, adding a more traditional rock percussion arrangement. Like the best LCD Soundsystem songs before it, How Do You Sleep? spends its massive length slowly transforming itself. This track in particular stands out through the extremeness of its shift, going from a minimalist piece to quite possibly their most expansive sound.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/