Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones (Album)

## Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones

* Standard
* Deluxe

## Singles

1. "Middle of Somewhere"
Released: August 16, 2019
2. "Cherry Flavoured"
Released: July 31, 2020
3. "Lost in Translation
Released: September 24, 2020
4. Stargazing
Released: December 14, 2020

"**Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones**" is the fourth studio album by American alternative band The Neighbourhood. It was released on September 25, 2020 through Columbia Records meanwhile the deluxe edition was released on December 11, 2020 containing 4 more songs. The album is the band's shortest studio album to date with a runtime of 31 minutes and 41 seconds. This is also their last album to feature former drummer Brandon Fried before being fired from the band in November 2022 due to allegations of sexual assault.

## Background

*"Before we started this album, I asked myself what my opinion was about our music, our band, and our fans, and I realized I didn't really know—and that scared the shit out of me. I got off the internet for about nine months and stopped ingesting everybody else's opinion. Bowie was Ziggy, and Ziggy was a character very addicted to cocaine—and I would say that Chip is addicted to the internet, a product of addiction from social media for so many years."*
Heavily inspired by the story and the style of David Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust (used through 1972 and 1973) and his band “The Spiders from Mars,” Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones is a concept album built on Rutherford’s own struggles with binge-using of social media and the band’s identity.

Written and recorded in the space of almost three years, the LP sees the group let go of the ’80s inspired elements of their 2018 self-titled effort in order to embrace an alternative rock aesthetic, reminiscent of the ‘70s.

## Artwork

The cover features lead singer Jesse Rutherford as his character Chip Chrome. As you notice, the cover is in color since all the previous covers for the standard releases of their albums are in black and white or greyscale (a theme in which the band had been inspired by Rutherford's color-blindness).

## Release

The first single, "Cherry Flavoured", was released on July 31, 2020. An EP featuring four tracks from Chip Chrome & the Mono-Tones, Pretty Boy was released on September 9, 2020. The album's second single, "Lost in Translation", followed on September 24, the day before the release of the album. The deluxe edition of the album, was released on December 11, 2020, which contains 4 more songs that serves as a prelude to the original material, including the album's fourth and final single, "Stargazing".

## Reception

Muck like its predecessor, the album also received favorable reviews. Matt Collar of AllMusic gave the album a score of 4 out of 5 stars, stating: "Of course, all of this genre-bending, sci-fi fun would simply be pop theatrics were it not for the band's knack for crafting memorable songs, and Chip Chrome & the Mono-Tones is a journey through the Neighbourhood's musical cosmos that's worth taking." AlbumoftheYear gave it a 70% based on 2 reviews.

## Tracklist

**Deluxe Edition**

## Notes

* On the deluxe, all songs from the standard are songs 5-15.
* Despite the Parental Advisory sticker being placed on the cover, none of the songs are considered explicit.