New Audio: New Order’s House Music-Leaning New Single

Formed in the aftermath of Ian Curtis‘ suicide, much ink has been spilled throughout New Order’s lengthy and influential career. So what I will say is that New Order may arguably be one of the most critically applauded, commercially successful and beloved New Wave acts that have come out of the 1980s. And certainly, as a child of the early 80s, I think that New Order should bring about immediate feelings of nostalgia for other children of the 80s.

The band’s recently released, new full-length effort Music Complete marks two important milestones for the band — the album is the band’s first album released through internationally renowned, indie label Mute Records, and if I’m not mistaken, the effort is also the first album without co-founder Peter Hook, who left the band several years ago to pursue his own creative interests. And as a result, the album captures the band within a series of transitions.

Now if you’ve been frequenting this site, you’d probably remember that I’ve written about the album’s first two singles “Restless” and “Plastic.” “Restless” managed to be a breezy and subtly modern refinement of their familiar and beloved sound, while “Plastic” was much more synth based, pairing Sumner’s lilting vocals singing stingingly accusatory lyrics with layers of pulsing synths  reminiscent of Donna Summer‘s “I Feel Love” and Kraftwerk‘s “Trans Europe Express.”

At the time, I said “Plastic” may have been one of the album’s most club-friendly and club-ready songs but it turns out that I was dead wrong with that assessment. As it turns out, the album’s latest single “Tutti Frutti” may be even more club-friendly as the song pairs high hat-led percussion, layers of wobbling synths, shimmering synths, swirling and atmospheric electronics, twinkling keys and distorted vocal samples with Sumner’s lilting vocals in a house music-leaning song reminiscent of Kraftwerk‘s “Tour de France,” and the influential work of Frankie Knuckles, In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy and others. But at the core is a youthful, swooning and urgent Romanticism that’s infectious while giving the song its propulsive heat.