"Call the Police" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy, co-founder of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals, various instruments), Nancy Whang (synthesizer, keyboards, vocals), Pat Mahoney ( ...

. It was released together with "American Dream" as a digital double A-side single on May 5, 2017, through

DFA Records DFA Records is an American independent record label founded in 2001 by Mo' Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. They previously had a production team called The DFA, consisting of Goldsworthy and ...

and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' American Dream'' (2017). The song peaked at number 78 in Scotland and number 26 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternat ...

chart.

Background and composition

Prior to the official release of the song, "Call the Police" was first performed live during one of the band's sets at the then-recently opened Brooklyn Steel venue in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

. It was performed during the first encore of their April 6 show, where it was known as "Call Police" on the setlist. The band had made a plea to those in attendance at the show, asking them not to film their performance so they could officially release the track the way they wish to do so. "Call the Police" was mixed by

Dave Sardy David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning ...

at his studio in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and mastered by

Bob Weston Bob Weston (born 1965) is an American musician, producer, recording engineer, and record mastering engineer. Critic Jason AnkenyAnkeny, Jason. " Bob Weston: Overview from Allmusic.com declares that "Weston's name and fingerprints are all over th ...

at Chicago Mastering Service. The track has been noted as a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

song by some music critics. Eric Shorey of ''

Nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ...

'' felt as though the song didn't deviate too far away from the band's general style of music, noting that "it's not hard to imagine the new jam entering the canon of

dance-punk Dance-punk (also known as disco-punk, punk-funk or techno-punk) is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements.Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-19 ...

classics." The track drew comparisons to the work of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

; James Murphy's vocals were compared to Bowie's, the guitars were noted as similar to those of his song " 'Heroes'", and Rhian Daly of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote that the song "shares the galactic explorer feel of some of Bowie‘s finest work," using his "

Moonage Daydream "Moonage Daydream" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally recorded in February 1971 at Radio Luxembourg's studios in London and released as a single by his short-lived band Arnold Corns in May 1971 on B&C Recor ...

" track as an example. Comparisons were also drawn to U2.

Release

"Call the Police" was released alongside "American Dream" as a double A-side single digitally on May 5, 2017; they were made available once midnight was reached in one's

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude, because i ...

. The release acts as the band's first non-Christmas single in seven years (if "

Christmas Will Break Your Heart "Christmas Will Break Your Heart" is a song by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. It was released as a download single as well as a limited one-sided 7-inch vinyl on December 24, 2015, making it the band's first single in five years. Backgroun ...

" is not counted). The single release was accompanied by a post on the band's official Facebook page, which also included an update regarding the progress of their upcoming studio album. The band later performed "Call the Police" during the May 6 episode of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...

''s 42nd season.

Track listing

Personnel

All personnel adapted from ''American Dream'' liner notes. * James Murphy — vocals, drums, Roland TR-33, snaps, bass guitar, guitar, piano,

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "per ...

EMS Synthi AKS The EMS Synthi A and the EMS Synthi AKS, is a portable modular analog synthesiser made by EMS of England. The Synthi A model debuted in May 1971, and then Sythni AKS model appeared in March 1972 a with a built-in keyboard and sequencer. The EM ...

, ARP Omni II, Oberheim SEM *

Al Doyle Alexander John Joseph Doyle (born 28 August 1980) is a British musician. He is best known as the guitarist and synthesiser player for British indie electronic band Hot Chip and American rock band LCD Soundsystem. He is also a founding member of ...

— Korg Delta, guitar, vocals * Korey Richey — vocals *

— mixing

Charts

References

{{authority control LCD Soundsystem songs Songs written by James Murphy (electronic musician) 2017 singles 2017 songs Columbia Records singles Dance-punk songs Songs written by Al Doyle