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100

NOW Magazine

The real shift is in their attitude, which allows them to embrace earnestness and write some straightforward love songs. It’s a strategy that could have backfired, but instead it has inspired their strongest and most consistent album so far.

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PopMatters

Hot Chip’s newfound sonic focus pays off, and with each record the band feels more like the five-piece that it now is instead of just the initial songwriting nucleus of Goddard and lead vocalist Alexis Taylor. For all that, however, where One Life Stand really shines is in its unabashed, open heart.

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Delusions of Adequacy

The best treat in any kind of music following is when a band who’s been dabbling in greatness for a while finally comes to the plate and smashes a home run over the fences.

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The Phoenix

Fuller than usual of slow songs and piano ballads, One Life Stand is their mellowest, most thoughtful effort so far — which means it carries the risk of also being their most boring. (Contrast is one of their secret weapons, though it didn't seem like such a big deal until now.) But keep listening: slow to reveal, its charm is just as slow to fade.

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Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)

Their ventures paid off supremely, as One Life Stand is an enjoyable and captivating listen on every level.

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Pitchfork

One Life Stand is their most consistent and most complete record.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

While One Life Stand’s mindset is Hot Chip’s most overtly serious, the album is also its most musically accomplished.

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Q Magazine

One Life Stand is the classic pop album they've always threatened to make. [Mar 2010, p.96]

Dusted Magazine

We have to unpack One Life Stand a bit to understand how its ambition operates. There are, to begin with, some tracks so fine that there is little more to say, except “listen,” including the opening “Thieves in the Night.”

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Tiny Mix Tapes

On top of being instrumentally impressive, One Life Stand is Hot Chip’s most emotional release.

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Dot Music

By narrowing their range and increasing their focus, and by wearing their hearts on their sleeves and not smirks on their faces, they may just have released their first, confidently Hot Chip record. And that turns out to be something rather wonderful.

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Slant Magazine

The frenzied interludes which sneak-attacked numerous songs on Made in the Dark have been banished, making way for a smooth, sleek, and splendid pop record.

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Uncut

It isn't a coincidence that this, Hot Chip's most focused album, is also their finest--more ruthless editing in future will doubtless yield even more spectacular results.

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Boston Globe

There is a new energy and focus acting as the perfect foil to Hot Chip’s lyrics, which have always been remarkably clever, particularly in the emotionally stunted realm of dance music.

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musicOMH.com

One Life Stand feels English in the best possible sense: it's cosmopolitan, unassuming and ever-so-slightly eccentric.

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Urb

A band/sound that could easily have been a flash in the synth-pop revival pan has actually proven itself worthy of revisit , over and over again.

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Observer Music Monthly

Something magical may well have rubbed off [while working with with Robert Wyatt], as One Life Stand not only sees them back on track, it's also their best work, paring down those past excesses and unifying them into an extraordinarily lovely whole.

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Hot Press

Electro-pop wizards deliver cracking third album.

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The Guardian

Marvellously, an uninspiring mid-section aside, this is still music to dance to. More than dance in fact; you can exult to this.

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cokemachineglow

One Life Stand hasn’t brought Hot Chip completely out of the deep hole they dug for themselves one album earlier, and it’s still not as consistent as the inimitable, career-defining The Warning, but it’s unquestionably more “Boy From School” than the histrionics of “Shake a Fist,” and that’s a good enough reason to stay with this band not just for the kids.

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All Music Guide

Though this emotional nakedness is an unusual move after Made in the Dark pushed Hot Chip to a new level of attention and acclaim, it also shows they’re in it for the long haul.

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Drowned In Sound

They’re not badly written songs, but as the band contentedly set sail towards genteel Robert Wyatt-esque pop-soul balladry, fans might be left back on the shore wondering what happened to the idiosyncratic Hot Chip they fell in love with.

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Clash Music

So yes, different to "Made In The Dark" but a more cohesive and more heartfelt effort too. One Life Stand sees Hot Chip let us into their hearts as well as their thoughts.

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Prefix Magazine

The thing One Life Stand has going for it though is its thematic cohesion. This is an album about demanding commitment (from your bros, partially, but mostly from your lovers) or at the very least hoping for it.

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New Musical Express (NME)

Two years since the last album, five members with wildly varying tastes and talents, enough ammo to blast out two solo albums on the side, and they still can’t quite make 10 essential tracks in a row.

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Rolling Stone

Hot Chip's excellent fourth record shows how compatible those sentiments can be.

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Paste Magazine

One Life Stand is a worthwhile album peppered with lackluster songs, and not vice-versa. With Hot Chip, you tolerate inconsistency for occasional moments of bliss.

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Billboard.com

Richly uplifting arrangements, dynamic percussion and an attention to vocals (some shared) that's intimately communal mostly make up for some excessive sentimentality and steel drums. But what's missing on the album is an obvious classic.

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No Ripcord

All but doing away with the wry humor of the group's earlier work, Hot Chip's lyrics on One Life Stand focus on affection and romance in a way that says, “We’ve settled down.” However, the stylistic decisions betray the fact that they are still searching for their center.

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Mojo

Hot Chip's impressive musical facility remains, it's merely a little out of focus. [Apr 2010, p.102]

Alternative Press

So it is wuth British quintet Hot Chip, whose progression toward traditional songcraft has reached a satisfying plateau. [Mar 2010, p.94]

Spin

One Life Stand finds the boys settling down and growing a tad soft in the middle.

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BBC Music

This is an imbalanced record, and one that leaves you frustrated rather than elated. But despite the blips, they have dished up at least two cerebral bangers here.

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Under The Radar

The yawn-inducing LP starts innocently enough with the charming synthpop number, "Thieves in The Night." [Winter 2010, p.68]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 51 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Brandon D. gave it a9:
Possibly my favorite HC record to date. It may not have the club thumpin' hits of their earlier records, but it's their most consistent.

C. R. gave it a3:
With most Hot Chip albums, I find a few songs that I love, and a few that I hate. This album is no exception. There's a few great songs and mostly poor, forgettable ones.

Chris P gave it a10:
This band gets more sophisticated with each release. it's not as instantaneous as their earlier work, but it's more rewarding.

Matt A gave it an8:
This CD is full of very strong, catchy, songs! Many of the songs such as, "Thieves in the Night", "Brothers" and "Alleycats" have excellent builds. Songs such as "Hand me down your love", "I Feel Better" and "We have love" are awesome electro-pop that would be fun at any party. A very solid and strong CD, with a few hindering spots. Some songs fail to pick up speed and end up dragging for an extra 2 or 3 minutes. But overall... great effort by Hot Chip.

Hakon H gave it an8:
A much more subtle and evolved Hot Chip then before. But you can still hear them paying tribute to their Nerdy-dance-pop roots on this love-filled and sweet release.

Peter B gave it a7:
There are still fillers such as slush and Brothers - Hot Chip seem to still lack a little consistency on their albums.

Toby H gave it a7:
For once, I agree with NME's rating! I like this album a lot, some very good tracks, especially I Feel Better and the title track. In short, 7 killer, 3 filler (Hand Me Down Your Love, Brothers, Slush). Better than Made In The Dark, not as good as The Warning.

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One Life Stand

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