“A church is not for praying,” coos funky-imp Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor on “How Do You Do?,” lodged in the craw of Hot Chip’s first album in more than two years. “It’s for celebrating the light that bleeds through the pain.” If you’ve never listened to these unassuming dance-floor dukes before, you’re probably rolling your eyes ’cause of all that English ennui. If you’re at all familiar with the sneaky-powerful London fivesome, however, you know their most wistful asides tend to be sandwiched between thick slices of boogie-your-ass-off bread. In Our Heads (Domino), a self-produced stab in a subtly softer direction, is more poppy and orchestral than 2010’s soaring-sideways One Life Stand. The new record may be heavier on the sweet stuff, but fully expect the advancing bassline and rapturous chanting of “Flutes” to toss the E-Factory into a kinetic trance.
Sat., July 21, 8:30 p.m., $39.90, with Chromatics, Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St., 215-627-1332, electricfactory.info.
