Hot Chip is one of those bands you can enjoy that’ll impress your hipster friends. Much like LCD Soundsystem, their songs are full of fun and electro dance-pop. On “One Life Stand,” the band’s third album, they have finally matched their counterpart in creating a truly wonderful and fulfilling album.

There comes a point in every band’s career when it must evolve and mature. Usually bands do this prematurely on their second or third albums, but for the most part Hot Chip has stayed its course. 

In “One Life Stand,” we hear a band that has used its experience to expand and integrate grander songwriting; the verses, the choruses and the instrumentation are all larger than they’ve ever been for Hot Chip. 

With their techno rhythms and computerized vocals, songs like “I Feel Better” and “We Have Love” stick with the usual disco-pop formula that has brought Hot Chip success in the past.

 The difference on this album compared to other electro-pop albums is that certain songs like “Hand Me Down Your Love” and “Brothers” don’t strive to move your feet but rather, your heart. 

“One Life Stand” varies in moods and tones, shifting seamlessly from dark to light and everywhere in between. In the solemn “Keep Quiet,” Hot Chip is one of those few established bands that consistently puts out  dance hits.

 In fact, it seems that on this album the band members are really just lovesick dreamers on the inside, looking for true happiness and “only want a one life stand.”

 Even in the last (and best) song on the album, “Take It In,” Hot Chip pleads, “Please take my heart and keep it close to you,” with a dark, Depeche Mode-esque backbeat that soars in the chorus. 

“One Life Stand” is certainly Hot Chip’s finest moment. It is an ambitious mix of eccentric instrumentation and beautiful melodies that has far surpassed any previous expectations of this band. Surely, it is a solid album that should be in the discussions for best of the year.