When producers Diplo and Switch released their collaboration Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers do under the guise of Major Lazer in 2009, it gave the electronic dance scene a much needed kick up the backside. Dance grooves, ragga beats and lively MCs collided to create a frantic Dancehall fusion that attracted plenty of attention. Six years later and with Switch long gone, Peace is the Mission comes as a huge disappointment characterised by middle of the road EDM sounds and even a track featuring the awful Ellie Goulding.
Opening tune “Be Together” is a pleasant enough introduction. Featuring vocalist Wild Belle, it comes across like Lana Del Rey trying her hand at Lovers Rock. This is followed by the album’s stand-out track, “Too Original”, which isn’t especially original at all but after call-outs to the African Massive, it barrels into a rocking tune, chanted vocals, dub drops and plenty of bounce.
At this point, however, quality control goes completely out of the window. “Blaze Up the Fire” is a tech-reggae groove with Rasta splashes that feels like it has been especially put together to appeal to teenagers sucking on their first spliffs. Unfortunately, it fails to add anything soulful to the mix and leans heavily on The Prodigy’s “Out Of Space”. “Lean On” is flimsy Euro trance-pop with vacuous choruses and a lowest common denominator groove, while “Powerful” is electro-pop with power ballad sentiments and features the affected warbling of Ellie Goulding. It’s all a bit sad when compared to Major Lazer’s previous heights. However, the album’s low point is yet to come: “Night Riders” is a turgid collaboration with 2Chainz, Travis Scott, Pusha T and Mad Cobra that features dull, plodding hip-hop that is totally predictable and married to forgettable autotuned r’n’b choruses.
Peace is the Mission suggests that Diplo is ready to step down from being a leader of the pack as far as dance music is concerned, to being just another face in the crowd.
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