Leftfield – This Is What We Do – Released December 2022
Leftfield were already techno royalty when they released their debut album Leftism back in 1994.
The album won awards and critical acclaim while also being one of the first big dance music records to cause die-hard rockers to proclaim, “Wow, this rave’s stuff’s not so bad after all.”
We had to wait five years for the follow-up, Rhythm and Stealth, which defied expectations as the duo doubled down on their dub-techno influences, while at the same time showcasing a broad spectrum of vocal talent.
Another eternity later and we got 2015’s Alternative Light Source. But this time the reaction was more subdued. I remember listening to it quite regularly at the time but if you ask me to recall what any of the tracks are like, I’d be at a loss.
My overall sense of the album was that, well, it definitely sounds like Leftfield alright, but it was lacking that old Leftfield magic. And album number four is very much the same story.
Maybe I’m too cynical, then again maybe Leftfield are too. It kinda feels like it was created to answer Gen-Z Google searches for the term, “What Does Leftfield Do?”
The answer comes in the opening track, This Is What We Do, an electo-retro phat planetary rehash that’s essentially Daley and Barns in a Ronseal Varnish tin – yep, that’s Leftfield alright.
My friends all chimed in with the same refrain. What do you think of the new Leftfield? Well, it certainly sounds like Leftfield alright.
Except it doesn’t always. Because when it doesn’t sound like Leftfield trying to sound like Leftfield, it sounds like Leftfield trying to emulate their 90s contemporaries.
Case in point, track two, Full Way Round, which has more of a big beat influence than we’ve encountered before, while the vocal style evokes Underworld, and not in a good way.
It’s how I imagine Born Slippy would have sounded if Karl Hyde was a Dublin taxi driver talkin’ dah bleedin’ head off yez when you just want to get home after a sesh.
Jayzis – we’ll skip dah wun wha?
Track thee, Making A Difference, again just causes indifference, so worthy of another skip.
City Of Synths is a slow brooding piece of dubbed-out minimal synthwave and the first track on the album to capture my attention.
It’s followed by Pulse, a wubbely, breakbeat LFO-twitcher with a bassline that’s pure Leftfield but melodic flourishes that are more reminiscent of classic Orbital.
Machines Like Me, ok, hats off to this one, I wouldn’t pick this out of a Leftfield line-up at all, I’d never have guessed. If you’d asked me who it was, I’d have probably guessed Air.
Not a fan of Air.
Almost at the midpoint and it’s two out of five so far. And just as you start to wonder once again, “Where’s that Leftfield magic?”, along comes Rapture 16 featuring Earl Sixteen.
Ah, see now we’re talking.
Earl Sixteen’s voice is instantly familiar, the reggae star had previously appeared on Release The Pressure, the opening track of Leftism, as well as collaborating on tracks with Dreadzone.
Hearing him again with Leftfield is reassuring. Sonically it’s well-trod territory too, but in a good way, a big, phat dubby haze of echo and bass, with sharp synth arpeggios slicing through it all like a resonant filtered katana.
Same result here – “that’s leftfield all right” – but damn if it’s not the Leftfield fix we were all clucking for.
Heart And Soul features a syncopated groove with a minimal bassline throughout doing a lot of heavy lifting, yet somehow making it sound effortless. We get flashbacks to Rhythm Of Stealth’s 6/8 War and Leftism’s Song Of Life, along with African chants and Eastern snake-charmer vibes.
My head’s nodding along now, I’m down with this groove…
On to Accumulator, a straight-up four-to-the-floor banger full of brash synth leads and deftly layered percussion. And just when you think it’s going to go into a whooping big Azzido Da Bass type of thing they switch it up with some Outlander Vamp chords.
But they’re warbly and distorted Vamp chords and the percussion layers now start to splinter off in new directions, adding to the intensity. There’s good energy in this one and towards the end we get a nice Latin percussion workout for good measure – once again, these are the Leftfields I was looking for.
Accumulator’s only issue is that it’s far too short, maybe not the standout track of the album (I think that goes to Rapture 16) but certainly the most dancefloor friendly.
Come On comes in at just three minutes, it’s a slow, hip-hop tempo tune with trancy leads and … wait are those electric guitars? We ticking the Prodigy box now also?
I guess it’s ok, but it’s certainly no Check One or Dusted.
The final track on the album, Power Of Listening, is a more upbeat and energetic techno number, but once again I’m detecting strong hints of Orbital and traces of The Shamen’s Omega Amigo. Decent, but nothing I’ve not heard before.
And I guess that’s the issue with the album. Given the title it seems to have something of an identity crisis and is thematically reminiscent of a shitty 64k Kazza MP3:
“This_Is_What_We_Do_Leftfield_Prodigy_Chemicalbrothers_Underworld_Orbital_Daftpunk_Fatboyslim_Air_Crystalmethod.mp3”
Yes, there’s some really good tracks on here, but it doesn’t coalesce as an album since most of them are either totally forgettable or utterly skippable.
Rest assured come festival season I’ll be rushing towards any stage where Leftfield’s playing. And I’m fully prepared for the all-too-feasible eventuality that I’ll completely 180 on this album once I hear this material live.
It’s been a bumpy road for the group, apparently, so it’s great to hear Leftfield back again after so long, especially since we’ve only had four albums from the guys since 1994. That said, I really wanted to love this album more.
But I guess I also need to realise that a lot of the magic surrounding those first two albums was temporal. It wasn’t just the quality of the music – which was considerable – but also the era that gave birth to it and the age I was when first exposed it.
And perhaps that was the point of this album all along, to give younger clubbers some proper old skooling on who Leftfield are, what they do and why the need to listen to more.
I do like the idea of a whole new generation of eager-eyed yoofs working their way through Leftfield’s back catalogue, the thrill of discovering it all for the first time.
All the while us grumbling grey-haired ravers will continue carping on about our brittle cartilage, the suffocating ubiquity of smartphones and how raves were better in our day.
This is what we do.