Joe Goddard: Electric Lines review – earthbound disco-house from Hot Chip alumnus

Hot Chip are one of the great singles bands of the last decade, which is a nice way of saying that their albums are full of pointless filler; so it continues to prove with their singer-keyboardist Joe Goddard’s solo LP. Pop ballads are Hot Chip’s strength, and Goddard creates some affecting examples on Ordinary Madness, Human Heart and the title track, using the treble-leaning, milky sun palette currently beloved by the likes of Shura, Låpsley and Maggie Rogers. Home and Lose Your Love are pleasant, if earthbound, disco-house tracks bolstered by cut-and-shut samples of Brainstorm’s We’re on Our Way Home and the Emotions’ I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love (which also gave Primal Scream’s Loaded its gospel heft). But Truth Is Light is UK garage on non-alcoholic cava, and the dance tracks, with their interminable cosmic arpeggiation, have less poke than a 1980s hand-dryer.