Review Summary: Seven years on from their last release, Leftfield show that there’s still life in them
It must be difficult to have released a classic so early in one’s career. There must be an overwhelming sense that something must be lived up to at that point, that the benchmark for quality has been set at a seemingly impossible level. Perhaps this explains why Leftfield’s output after their time-honored debut has been less than prolific. Or perhaps, techno just wasn’t paying the bills. Whatever the case, more than twenty years on from Leftism, and seven after their previous release, Leftfield have returned, with a worthy, nostalgic addition to their discography that, perhaps thankfully, doesn’t even try to live up to the importance of their debut.
There’s been a real evolution of Leftism’s forward-thinking, lush style on This is What We Do; where that classic was laser-like in its focus and progressive elegance, here, a relatively diverse array of styles are dabbled in, in a mood that is lighthearted and playful, an exploration of the sounds and styles of yesteryear touching on big beat, breaks, acid house, techno, all built on a base of analog synthwork that, while all deeply familiar and indebted to the sonic textures of yesteryear, are kept fresh and fun by that sense of lightheartedness. The songs are energetic and exploratory enough that the dated sound feels more nostalgic than stale, and Neil Barnes shows his adept ability to integrate a startlingly arrayed selection of tunes and tones that allows the variegated arrangements to burst with color.
It's all anything but forward thinking, which is sure to be pleasing for those seeking a fresh take on the nostalgia of Leftfield’s heyday. But the excitement of Leftism, the sense that new territory was being treaded, that there was something genuinely
new being created is very obviously missing here, a fact that wouldn’t mean much if this wasn’t
Leftfield. Of course, given that their legacy is pretty much cemented, maybe it shouldn’t matter that much. But perhaps the biggest knock against the album is that, in spite of the wide variety of sonic textures being employed, the whole thing is very monochromatic in mood. Where Leftfield’s classic debut was doing some deep exploration of mood and emotion with the elements they were working with, one gets quite the opposite sense here: that in spite of all the fun going on, there’s really not a whole lot of depth beneath the surface.
This is What We Do is a staid, comfortable take on the styles of yesteryear, a retread of past glories that will be a welcome experience for those for whom quality of product weighs more heavily than advancement of artform. While operating for the most part within the styles that were storming the U.K. rave scene in the late nineties and early oughts, Neil Barnes and Adam Wren have kept the freshness and vitality of that era without wallowing too deeply in nostalgia for its own sake. If they had been a little more willing to explore, to push themselves in uncharted directions, This is What We Do might have been a later-stage classic in their long, if sparse, catalogue of albums. As it is, it’s a worthy addition that is more than worth a few spins before the year is out.
