I have bought all of Justice’s albums since their 2007 debut, “†”, but always on compact disc. It was only with the advent of 2024’s “Hyperdrama” that I abandoned CD in favour of vinyl. The band's back catalogue have all been reissued on vinyl, but I do not feel any burning desire to spend the £86.16 it would require to add them to my shelves. I like Justice, but of the wave of electronic artists who emerged around 2007, they have always fallen a little behind their contemporaries. Digitalism had more imagination, Simian Mobile Disco had sharper production, and Soulwax sounded as if they had found a secret cupboard marked “ideas” and decided not to report it to anyone. Justice make dance music, certainly, but it often veers towards disco and can get a bit silly at times. As I have said on this blog before, I do not like silliness in my music, so I have often found myself tapping my feet in a slightly disapproving manner, which is the most middle-aged form of rebellion available to me.
To be fair, Justice have shifted their sound over time, and this album finds them leaning more into club culture than seventies disco cheese. “Neverender”, which opens the album, is a collaboration with Tame Impala and sounds a bit like Daft Punk with a bit of Chemical Brothers for structural support. It is great stuff. Next up is “Generator”, which throws in various Alpha Juno-style hoover noises and rave sounds you thought had been safely lost to the nineties until they form a particularly excellent audio trifle, complete with string section. “Afterimage” is another massive track, with RIMON’s vocal hovering above the driving rhythms and squealing synths like balm on a sore wound, assuming the balm has been administered at 130 beats per minute.
Also worthy of mention is another Tame Impala collaboration, “One Night/All Night”, whose dark techno pulse suits Justice like a well-tailored jacket. The bass playing of Xavier de Rosnay sounds especially good on tracks like “Dear Alan”, giving the album a muscular low end without making it feel as though it has simply wandered into a gym and started shouting at a mirror.
“Moonlight Rendez-vous” is clearly an attempt to change down a gear, but it falls a bit flat for me and, as we know, saxophone is rarely the answer, children. “Saturnine” reaches for an R&B feel but leaves me colder than an afternoon spent in a chiller, even if there is a cheeky Art of Noise sample lurking in there like it has broken in through a side door.
“Hyperdrama” is like a crazy puppy that launches itself at you when you first walk in, all paws, teeth and enthusiasm, before gradually remembering it has been to obedience class. It is still a very good puppy, but I cannot help preferring it before it learnt to sit and roll over. 3.5/5
