5. Instant Crush
And then comes the record's first popstar vocal cameo, in the form of Julian Casablancas's 'Instant Crush'. It's reminiscent of Everything Everything and as nonchalant as you'd expect from an autotuned Casablancas, which combined with classy synths, gives a somewhat effortless feel, just as we've heard so often in the past from the pair. The melody loop-the-loops and production glides like the song's skimming across a watery surface; it's in many ways what made the Strokes so fantastic over a decade ago, but it sounds fresher than Julian's band have been for years. Definitely one that could've been released as a single. 6. Lose Yourself To Dance
The first of two Pharrell contributions on 'Random Access Memories', it's easy to put 'Lose Yourself to Dance' in a corner and forget about it; is it anything more than a 'Get Lucky' first draft? Well, yes: it's one of the finest pop songs of the year, and Pharrell's at his seductive best, teasing with his falsetto in a lovely, cascading melody. It's about here in the album that it becomes clear how simpler 'Random Access Memories is than previous efforts; the tracks here can be pulled apart instrument by instrument, refreshing from a band that reached the peak of their producing powers on the 'Tron: Legacy' soundtrack, and went just about as huge as you can. 'Lose Yourself to Dance' is straightforward early evening music though, and on track 6, Daft Punk are about to coax a party into life, courtesy of a mid-tempo beat and swirling chimes. It didn't quite sweep the globe like "the hit" but it's certainly more than just a precursor to 'Get Lucky'. 7. Touch
'Lose Yourself to Dance' fades into black, and in its place comes the hazy, sci-fi electronics of 'Touch'. Classic synths spiral and kaleidoscope to finally form a nebulous backing for 73-year-old Paul Williams's fragile vocals. It's the second odyssey of the album, and it's every bit as fantastic as the first. And as 'Touch' builds, it morphs into something rather unique; for a while, it's almost as if the Cantina in Star Wars was a Las Vegas crooner's lounge, and then everything slows into a choired-up mantra of, "If love is the answer, hold on". We're firmly back into soundtracking territory for the French duo on this song; it may be the score to an imaginary movie, but it's an eight-minute epic that's both gleefully ambitious and marvelously moving. And it's perhaps the most human song they've ever written.