From the glitzy, discoball lighting and L.A. sunrise-soaked visuals of it's first single, 'Get Lucky,' to the 'Thriller'-esque typeface of the album title, you might be forgiven for thinking RAM would be a straight-forward disco album. Slightly off track for the funky, electronic duo, but still familiar to long time fans.
RAM, however, is something else entirely.
RAM might feel more at home in the catalogue of fellow French contemporaries Air, notorious favourites of old synth tones and the experimental pop of the past.
Album opener 'Give Life Back To Music' explodes with hammering drums and piano, a sound so seemingly out of place on a Daft Punk record I had to check i was listening to the right album.
The initial shock to the system sends a clear message: Don't get comfortable.
The Robots don't want you lying down and letting the music washing over you.
This is something to sit up and pay attention to.
Matching your heart, the steady beat of bass lines and soft vocals settles into a familiar rhythm. But again the rock cuts through the funk.
"Bring the music of your life back," it implores.
The familiar rhythm isn't necessarily bad, it keeps you alive. But every now and then, it needs that kickstart.
Don't get comfortable.
Paul Williams tracks 'Game of Love' and 'Touch' weave a narrative of losing and regaining ones humanity. Becoming lost in the machinations before becoming human again. As the following track opens, "like the rising of the phoenix," the narrator comes back stronger and more alive than before.
'Lose Yourself To Dance' breaks all the rules. But that's okay every once in a while. A rising harmony urging the listener, "Come on. Come on. Come on." Its okay to let the music wash over you but don't let that rule your life, as 'Touch' warns.
Giorgio Moroder, provides a bibliographic narration to the track bearing his name. He speaks of a time when, to him, the hums and drones of Moog and Korg synthesisers promised to define the future of music. The music becomes a part of his tale, triggering one another. As we hit 1969/70 the disco beats drive forward with Moroder's life. At one point, the music pares down to a simple click track as he states thats what he needs. And as he talks of reinventing himself, becoming Giorgio the musician, the sound of the synthesisers act as a catalyst for his life. Its indicative of the way RAM wants to join together.
'Motherboard' is the only instrumental track on the album, an almost prog like tune featuring flutes and strings in a dark exploration.
'Fragments of Time' is an upbeat, pop-ish number. By far the least electronic number on the album, only peppered with swirling and beeping synths.
'Doin' It Right' has the danger of feeling out of place on the album, leaning a little too far into modern electro-pop. But it slot nicely between 'Fragments of Time' and album finisher 'Contact.'
'Contact' does well as a dark, heavily synth laden throwback to progressive rock acts, while incorporating crashing drums and distorted guitars of modern prog performers before disintegrating into electronic fuzz.
Random Access Memories weaves man and machine in a way Daft Punk have never achieved in the past. Their past albums have been about the relationship between the two entities, working side by side, their roles were clearly defined.
Even with its roots planted firmly in the past, RAM's focus is to the future. To a time when man and machine becomes indistinguishable. But even with this melding of skin an circuitry, they can still declare they are human after all.
