Rating: 4/7
It’s been a long 4 years since Two Door Cinema Club (TDCC) has released a full length album. Originally releasing their first album, Tourist History, in 2010, they were able to keep up with their momentum by releasing Beacon in 2012, and then Changing of the Season EP in 2013, but since then the productivity of the band has been stagnant. However, in early 2016 the band said their 3rd studio album would be out sometime in the year, and on October 14th it finally was.
Starting off with “Are We Ready? (Wreck)”, Gameshow, puts us into a fast-paced motion from the start, much like Tourist History had done. The following track, “Bad Decisions”, continues the themes of reminiscence from their previous works. Both of these songs had been released previously during the summer, and so it’s really only up until “Ordinary” where you get to really listen to Gameshow, but upon hearing that and the following title track, “Gameshow”, you begin to realize that these songs become monotonous and vaguely sound the same.
“Invincible” offers a different sound to the album, slowing down in pace, and sounding much more like their previous work on Beacon. However, where Beacon’s execution of the simple beats and mellow voice worked nicely, here it seems rather forced. The latter part of the album especially overuses synth beats, and what could’ve started out as just a curious experiment, ended up hurting the overall sound of the album.
Song such as “Surgery” have seemingly meaningless lyrics, and the vocals seem to lack feel.
Coffee
Eyebrow
Change in my pocket that I forgot about
This is not so much a song but rather a list of things the band had seen lying around in the studio. Some artists can make lyrics such as these work out, but from TDCC we expect a different syntax, and one sang with more appeal.
The saving grace of Gameshow is in the form of one of the bonus tracks, “Gasoline”. Featuring heavy guitar riffs mixed with synth beats, it shows of the great production value that the band has had on previous works.
Gameshow has some great songs on it, and overall is a quality album, but it definitely has room for improvement. TDCC has been a groundbreaking band in the past, and considering their previous works, this album is a letdown for them. Gameshow can be summed up in the title of it’s first track “Are We Ready?”, because it’s more of a question among the band themselves if they were ready to release this album, and in my eyes, they weren’t.
