Think for a moment about bologna sandwiches. I love a good bologna sandwich every now and then. Some Wonder Bread, a slice of Kraft American cheese, and some crappy bologna. They are cheap, technically tasty, and just generic enough to be good sometimes. You hand me a bologna sandwich and I’m generally a happy guy. You give me two of them, and I’ll probably be okay for a while. Give me five of them, and I’ll be like “Please stop with the bologna sandwiches, you’re ruining my life.”

The Chainsmokers like bologna sandwiches, which is appropriate because they are the Wonder Bread of EDM. They are pretty good at making them, and they want to make sure that everyone is eating them. And if they were a little more conscious of this fact, it would be fine. Instead they think that every sandwich they make is gilded, when in reality, they’re just shitty bologna sandwiches. Or in this case, some of the most formulaic EDM-lite that I’ve heard in a while.

Collage EP is a collection of five of their popular recent tracks, which sound like their five most popular tracks before that, and the five before that. If you haven’t heard one of their songs, you’d be hard pressed to say it, because the very first time you hear one of them it feels like the millionth time. They have their breathy female vocals, neutered drops, and pop-friendly synths down to a science, but unfortunately this science has left behind variety in favor of churning out millions of bologna sandwiches.

In doing so, Collage EP commits one of the biggest sins that any album can make.

It’s boring.

2/5

Tracklist:

1. Setting Fires Feat. XYLØ
2. All We Know Feat. Phoebe Ryan
3. Closer Feat. Halsey
4. Inside Out Feat. Charlee Nyman
5. Don’t Let Me Down Feat. Daya

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Tags: EDM, The Chainsmokers, Daya, Pop