The Chainsmokers follow High with iPad

Disruptor Records/Columbia, The Chainsmokers’ label since 2015, released ‘iPad’ today. The duo had been on hiatus, and the way out of it has arrived in pieces — ‘High’ in January, their first original song in three years, and now this one. Both land on their fourth album, the first full-length they have put out since World War Joy in 2019. On ‘So Far So Good’, ‘High’ is track two. ‘iPad’ is track three. Sixteen songs in all.

It is a lovesick one, and it steps well clear of the pop-leaning bass sound they are known for. Piano, claps, a bright and uplifting tone. Nothing in it reads as dated. Andrew takes the vocal, so the pop shape the pair have always worked in survives intact. The production leans back towards the records they made earlier — nearer ‘Paris’ and ‘Closer’. “Sometimes you let go just to know where to start,” Taggart said. “I don’t keep a journal so writing this song and the others on this album (and past albums) is my opportunity to organize my thoughts.”

Two names other than the duo’s appear on the running order. Ship Wrek turns up near the end on ‘The Fall’. Bob Moses closes it out on ‘Why Can’t You Wait’. Stream it below.