Something about the introductory track of the Chemical Brothers’ Further set me on a course of trying to see if the album would work as the grand liturgy of an Electronica-fueled Christian worship service. As absurd as the experiment might be, with its imaginary setting of a Gothic cathedral drenched in flashing lights, emptied of pews, and packed with dancing worshippers, I listened intently to the latest from the Chemical Brothers, an album that for the most part does not call upon outside assistance. Therefore, the album seamlessly tracks from movement to movement, making it ideal for such a worshipful experience. To a point.
Borrowing lyrics from Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher,” the album opens with “Snow” on which guest singer Stephanie Dosen uses a chant-like bell voice to sing, “Your love keeps lifting me/Lifting me higher.” Working to introduce the worship service, drawing people together as they assemble, the lyric would work well with the pastor also speaking the words of the Invocation: “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” God draws us into assembly, more than that, draws us into His family, His Name, and indeed, His love keeps lifting us higher.
“Snow” falls out into “Fly Like an Eagle”-like atmospheric keys and then falls into track 2 “Escape Velocity”‘s opening hints of the Who. “Escape Velocity” then takes off as the title implies and becomes an 11-plus minute opening hymn of dance. The Christian liturgy celebrates at the opening of a worship service, celebrates that God Himself is present, that He brings His Word and sacraments to the people, and that there is once again a time for the people to recall His promises of life and salvation in Jesus Christ. Let the dancers fill the cathedral with movement in this electronic liturgy.
“Escape Velocity” then drifts off to leave the worshippers with “Another World,” an ethereal treatment for the part of the service that brings us to Confession and Absolution. Confession, where the congregation admits their sinfulness before God and pleads for His forgiveness, ties in with the track’s lyrics, “Another world surrounds me/Another heart will forgive.” Ethereal specters fly through the air, but nothing that the pastor’s voice cannot break through with the clear Absolution, the announcement that through Jesus Christ our sins have truly been absolved, forgiven. The track’s bombastic middle section acts as a proclamation of victory over sin, death, and the devil.
After this, the Electronic Liturgy experiment just about dissolves on the fourth track, “Dissolve,” because its brief lyrics about Caroline do not fit in with the liturgy. However, this should not deter one from using its marching band-like intensity and Je Suis France-like beat of its first four minutes as that Hymn of Praise which follows the announcement of Absolution.
Then things do dissolve on track 5: the impressively driving dance track, “Horse Power,” which races its engines but whose whinnying samples of a horse creep a little too much strongly for it to work within the cathedral. The rest of the album has its moments, but the Electronic Liturgy experiment has already come to a close.
Therefore, it was a short-lived experiment, but a different lens through which to view Further which lacks the punch of earlier albums, such as Push the Button.
The Chemical Brothers
Astralwerks
