As it was before the LP even existed, our current music market places as much emphasis as possible on the single, as if there’s nothing at all ridiculous about paying for three minutes of entertainment (if you’re lucky). We’re long, long, overdue for a Sgt. Pepper’s-style re-examination of the format, a full-length pop album that mass audiences consider – and, more importantly, remember – as a whole.

That’s too much to lay on any group, let alone one as affable as Hot Chip, but it does raise the question: are these lads from London ever going to make a stone-cold classic album? Considering how flooring their run of singles has been – from “Over and Over” (2006) to “One Life Stand”, the title track from their newest disc – it’s almost criminal how they’ve managed to sidestep a masterpiece. Whether through the faux hip-hop irony of Coming on Strong (2004) and The Warning (2006), or the watered-down ballads of Made in the Dark (2008), their subtle sabotaging of that possibility has kept fans dangling on the line for far too long.

One Life Stand could be considered Hot Chip’s attempt to get down to business, so to speak, and place each track in a focused context. Frontman Alexis Taylor has said as much in pre-release, claiming the album “hangs together better” than the scattershot Made in the Dark. Well, plenty of albums do hang together better than that, but you get the idea. Romantic without being maudlin, catchy without feeling like a goof, it does correct the mistakes of the past, relatively minor though they may be.

“Thieves in the Night” opens the album on its highest note, building from a pulsing kick drum beat and Taylor’s childlike croon to a beautiful coast, declaring that disarming simplicity will be the soup of the day (Taylor can sing a line like “happiness is what we all want” and actually sell it). Though consistent, the album is fairly front-loaded, with the retro “Hand Me Down Your Love” and undeniable “One Life Stand” following shortly behind.

In comparison, “I Feel Better” and “Brothers” are more indicative of what’s to come – lush, deep and harder to get a handle on. “Slush” seems to come from an entirely different band than the one who produced the “Playboy/Ass Attack” single in ’04; though it curiously uses a Ralph Kramden-style vocal stutter for a hook, it’s an earnest, gorgeous waltz, with almost no “beat” per se. “Alley Cats” is slightly funkier, through still drawn close to the chest, with Taylor and occasional co-frontman Joe Goddard trading friendly declarations.

As a long-in-the-making project (several tracks have been performed live for two years), One Life Stand is the sign of a group applying talent and work ethic in equal measure. They have yet to make their magnum opus, but when they get their brains, muscles and hearts in equal step, there will be no denying it.

Artist: Hot Chip
Album: One Life Stand (EMI, 50 minutes)
Rating: 4/5
Key Tracks: “Thieves in the Night,” “One Life Stand,” “Slush”