Four years after the release of eeacon, which reached number two in the UK charts and sold over 100,000 copies, Two Door Cinema Club have released their third album, Gameshow. During their break, the band had space to “discover their individual identities outside of the band” which, may have been a drug fuelled exploration, as the song ‘Ordinary’ hints at.

The album sounds like it’s just jumped out of the ’80s and is very synth heavy throughout. If you’re a fan of their older music, especially the more recognisable tunes like ‘Something Good Can Work’, then you may be disappointed, as Gameshow sounds nothing similar.

‘Are We Ready (Wreck)’ is the opening song and was released as a single along with ‘Bad Decisions’ and ‘Gameshow’ prior to the release of the album. It has been used on Fifa 17 and was featured as Annie Mac’s hottest record and does live up to the good press, it’s got a cool yet steady bassline to it, however the background vocals are overly repetitive.

‘Bad Decisions’ was wrote after Alex Trimble discovered the word Weltschmertz, which is German for being at odds with the world around you. It’s a catchy song and will soon have you singing along, but it feels like it’s trying a little hard to be something it’s not with its cheesy sounding guitar intro. Whilst the song is trying to make a statement about our generations unhealthy dependence on social media, the line “generation information” repeated just gets a little boring.

‘Ordinary’ is a song about someone who’s doing too many drugs and trying to hide the fact, it’s another good song to sing along to and would be great live; it’s instantly more likeable than the first two songs.

‘Gameshow’ is a strong song from the album, but after this the album goes downhill and altogether is just a little dull. ‘Fever’ continues the theme of ‘Ordinary’, but from the perspective of someone who does want to change their habits. Alex’s vocals are strong in this one and the line “I confuse desire and control” is relatable from those weekends where the sesh just continues a little too long.

‘Invincible’ is mellow and emotional, about a failed relationship and a desire to rekindle the love with the girl, who’s now with another guy. The chorus vocals are super high pitched and echo MIKA’s voice.

‘Gasoline’ opens with a serious and stable bass guitar yet as the song progresses, the higher singing voice returns. “Was it me, was it someone else dressed in my skin, having fun” addresses a numbness that most of us will have experienced at some point, probably from the lack of genuine human connection that social media forces most of us to lose.

All in all, there’s a couple of decent songs on here, but the band have lost their catchy coolness that was left behind in Beacon, and sound a lot more like factory produced, synth heavy, background music.

Gameshow is out now via Parlophone.

Katie Rodgers