Music Complete, released in 2015 through Mute Records, is the tenth studio album by English Alternative Dance band New Order. The album stands as a major turning point for the band: after bassist and co-founder Peter Hook left in 2007 due to Creative Differences with vocalist Bernard Sumner, New Order had functionally broken up, though the other members insisted that they were simply on hiatus before Sumner confirmed in 2009 that they'd split.
However, two years later, New Order announced that they had reformed, with Gillian Gilbert returning to the band (having retired after the release of Get Ready in 2001 to raise her and drummer/husband Stephen Morris' kids) and Tom Chapman being appointed as the band's new bassist. However, it took a few years to start putting together new material, with 2013's Lost Sirens simply being an archival release of an album that'd been recorded alongside Waiting for the Sirens' Call but shelved following Hook's exit. Thus, Music Complete represents the band's first album of newly-written and recorded songs in ten years.
With the rock-oriented Hook no longer being in the band, the material on Music Complete shifts firmly back into the electronic sound that had defined New Order's sound throughout the 1980s, following the guitar-driven Alternative Rock of Get Ready, Waiting for the Sirens' Call, and Lost Sirens. That said, while rock elements still appear on the album, the overall sound leans even further into the band's electronic dance elements than ever before, especially in its first half, incorporating elements of the contemporary disco revival and the other new forms of dance music that emerged in the 2010s (to the point where Elly Jackson of La Roux appears as a co-vocalist on three tracks). Thus, the album both modernizes and expands upon New Order's Signature Style for a new era.
Music Complete was supported by four singles: "Restless", "Tutti Frutti", "Singularity", and "People on the High Line". An outtake from the sessions, "Be a Rebel", would also be released as a non-album single (the band's first since 1997) in 2020.
Tracklist:
- "Restless" (5:28)
- "Singularity" (5:37)
- "Plastic" (6:55)
- "Tutti Frutti" (6:22)
- "People on the High Line" (5:41)
- "Stray Dog" (6:17)
- "Academic" (5:54)
- "Nothing but a Fool" (7:43)
- "Unlearn This Hatred" (4:19)
- "The Game" (5:06)
- "Superheated" (5:04)
I'm a shadow of a man without your tropes:
- Alternate Album Cover: The color scheme on the album color is rearranged for the digital, CD, and LP releases of the albums. As a ready tell, the digital cover features a blue triangle on the right, the CD cover has a yellow triangle, and the LP cover has a red triangle.
- Animal Motifs: "Stray Dog", as indicated by the name, uses imagery related to taming a feral dog as a metaphor for a romantic relationship, ending with Iggy Pop acting out the sound of a dog snarling.
- Anti-Love Song: True to form for New Order, much of the album focuses around themes of dysfunctional relationships. In particular, "Plastic" is narrated by a man who seems to relentlessly praise his partner as perfect, only to flip around and dismiss them as a superficial trophy, re-contextualizing the earlier verses.
- Break-Up Song: "People on the High Line" is narrated by a man desperately trying to rekindle a recently-dissolved relationship.
- Color Motif: The album packaging continues the band's association with white, featuring a white back cover and a white CD tray in the jewel case; the double-LP release includes white sleeves for each record.
- Concept Video: Most of the album's music videos continue the band's tradition of making art cinema-style clips to accompany their songs:
- "Restless" features a group of young adults acting out the rise and fall of a despotic king.
- "Tutti Frutti" depicts an aging variety show host who hallucinates an elaborate final show for himself on live TV.
- "People on the High Line" shows the story of an amateur breakdancer attempting to learn the craft.
- Epic Rocking: "Plastic", "Tutti Frutti", "Stray Dog", and "Nothing but a Fool" all gladly waltz past the 6-minute mark. The record itself also stands out as New Order's longest studio album, at 64:26.
- Gratuitous Italian: Tying in with its nature as a homage to Italo Disco, "Tutti Frutti" features brief portions where Giacomo Cavagna recites deep-voiced Italian monologues about a lover.
- Idiosyncratic Cover Art: The singles associated with the album use geometric cover art in the vein of the main cover art, with "Restless" and "Tutti Frutti" directly matching the style of the album cover. "Singularity" and "People on the High Line" meanwhile take further liberties, but fundamentally retain the overall style.
- In the Style of:
- "People on the High Line" is a sonic homage to Chic, who was a major influence on New Order.
- "Superheated" shifts towards the brand of poppy Alternative Rock championed by The Killers, thanks to it being written by frontman Brandon Flowers (who also duets with Bernard Sumner on the song).
- Let's Duet:
- "Tutti Frutti" and "People on the High Line" are duets between Bernard Sumner and Elly Jackson of La Roux.
- "Superheated" is a duet between Bernard Sumner and Brandon Flowers in its chorus.
- Minimalistic Cover Art: Courtesy of regular collaborator Peter Saville, a group of straight black lines in a gridlike formation, with the resulting spaces being filled in stark, bright colors. The cover is repeatedly used as a visual motif throughout the album's music videos.
- New Sound Album: Music Complete shifts back to the electronic sound of the band's pre-Get Ready output, while refitting it around new trends in dance music in the 2010s.
- Non-Appearing Title: "Singularity", "People on the High Line", "Stray Dog", "Academic", "The Game", "Superheated".
- One-Word Title: "Restless", "Singularity", "Plastic", "Academic", "Superheated".
- Remix Album: The year after Music Complete released, the band put out Complete Music as a companion piece, featuring remixes of every song on the original album. Some tracks are just longer versions of the originals, while others sound significantly different.
- Shout-Out:
- The album cover is a noticeable nod to Piet Mondrian's Composition series of paintings, which incidentally fell into the public domain (alongside the rest of Mondrian's portfolio) the year of the album's release.
- The penultimate instrumental break in "The Game" audibly interpolates the Amen break.
- Special Guest:
- La Roux vocalist Elly Jackson provides backing vocals on "Plastic", "Tutti Frutti", and "People on the High Line".
- Iggy Pop provides the spoken-word monologue on "Stray Dog".
- Brandon Flowers of The Killers duets with Bernard Sumner on "Superheated".
- Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers is a co-writer and co-producer of "Singularity" and "Unlearn This Hatred".
- Spoken Word in Music: The vocals on "Stray Dog" consist solely of Iggy Pop narrating a poem about the dichotomy between the idea of unconditional love and the sacrifices that often must be made for love.
- Surreal Music Video: "Restless" has a clear vision in its depiction of a king's rise and fall, but executes it through an array of abstract and unreal imagery.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: The video for "Tutti Frutti" is primarily seen through the perspective of an aging, soon-to-be-replaced variety show host, whose spectacular final show turns out to be mostly him hallucinating while the cameras are rolling.
- Video Full of Film Clips: The music video for "Singularity" consists entirely of archival footage taken from the documentary B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 (about youth culture in the titular city during the last ten years before the Berlin Wall fell), which both included Joy Division's "Komakino" on the soundtrack and featured Bernard Sumner as one of the interviewees.
