Chairlift have been taken to some interesting places over the course of their career to date. With two albums under their belt, plus vocalist Caroline Polachek’s solo excursion, the synth-pop duo have featured in iPod adverts, toured with The Killers and contributed to Beyonce’s most recent album. ‘Romeo’ is the second track to be previewed from next year’s album Moth and, like its predecessor ‘Ch-Ching’, shows the band moving away from their jangly indie-pop leanings towards electronic and R&B influences.
Regardless of genre, Chairlift have always been a band whose experimental leanings have come at the cost of pop pleasures – their best moments have always been where they let their instincts overtake their intellectualism. But ‘Romeo’ marks a high-point in their career, as the inherent tension in the stuttering beat is clever enough to anchor a song otherwise built on sugar-hit hooks, producing a mix of artful and classic songwriting. Polachek’s voice soars as she offers the challenge to a lover to catch up to her, singing the title like a gleeful boast of indestructibility. ‘Romeo’ continues to lay out a radical change of direction for the band, but it’s done so effortlessly it feels like a refinement.
