CREDIT: PARLOPHONE
While the refined Two Door Cinema Club may lack some energy, they make up for it in creativity.

After two widely successful albums and extensive touring, the boys in Two Door Cinema Club took a well-deserved break from each other. Gameshow, released on Oct. 14 is the comeback album we’ve been waiting on for four years, but not the one we expected.

At the risk of becoming irrelevant with a third look-alike record, the band’s creative differences manifested in a sharp left turn into the realm of disco Daft Punk influence, ‘80s nostalgia and Bee Gees-inspired falsetto. Gone are the days of up-tempo catchy guitar riffs and indie-rock passion that made the band such a pleasure to watch live in the first place.

Gameshow is a reinvention of Two Door Cinema Club and in a way it’s more original than their sophomore album Beacon. Yes, the album is decidedly mellower in comparison to crowd pumping tunes like “Undercover Martyn” and “Something Good Can Work”, but that’s not to say that there’s no energy in songs like “Fever” with its cheery groove and atmospheric Pink Floyd intro. Gameshow has spirit, but it’s not the same raw unabashed emotion that we’ve seen on their previous two releases.

The album opens with “Are We Ready (Wreck)”, a jumpy track with gratuitous use of children’s choir and a meandering tinny guitar that seems to perpetuate through many of the songs. It gives listeners hope that Gameshow might retain some of Two Door’s previous energy, but the second track “Bad Decisions” does a fantastic job of crushing those dreams. The song’s laid-back groove carries through a narrative on making mistakes that circumvents a winded and woefully misguided solo overtop a repetitive chant of “generation information”. It’s almost ironically titled because this entire song sounds like it was a bad decision.

There are moments of genuine flair such as the title track where the band takes some influence from The Strokes and Arcade Fire. It feels that most of the energy on the album was condensed into this one track full of distorted bass, effective dynamic shifts and impressive vocal trills. “Gameshow” might be Trimble’s most aggressive vocal performance to date and for that reason alone it’s one of the more memorable tracks on this album.

Next to “Gameshow”, the track “Lavender” might be the catchiest in terms of lyrics. Sure it’s pretty cheesy at times but there’s something about how the lyric “gravity is losing its hold” fades into the chorus that just makes you want to sing along.

Many of the lyrics on Gameshow focus on the conflicts that caused the band’s initial departure but they become a backdrop to tinny guitars and synthesizers as Alex Trimble’s vocals seem to sit much lower in the mix than usual. While his Barry Gibb falsetto is perfectly suited for songs like “Ordinary” Trimble looses a bit of definition when competing with overly distorted guitars and treble heavy synths.

It’s understandable why the instrumentals might take precedence on an album like this as the trio explores such a vast new realm of potential. No one has enjoyed this new freedom as much as guitarist Sam Halliday. While at times his guitar tones can be out of place, tracks like “Fever” and “Gasoline” make their mark on the album by virtue of his solos alone, albeit they’re pretty blatant Pink Floyd rip-offs. Gameshow sees a number of songs resolving in or encompassing instrumental jams that truly display their Daft Punk influence. The bridge of “Je Viens De La” is perhaps the most blatant tribute but it’s easy to see Daft Punk shining throughout the album.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide if you’ll hop on Two Door Cinema Club’s bandwagon of new-disco. If you’re a fan of Daft Punk, 1975 or ‘80s nostalgia this is right up your alley. It’s no Tourist History but you can’t question its originality.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5