With a natural ebb and flow, Curve Of The Earth is both a new departure for the Mystery Jets and their most consistent and rewarding album yet.
Always an inward looking, albeit reliably quirky gang of retro-casters, Curve of the Earth finds the Jets assessing their place in the universe via nine incrementally protracted set pieces that invoke Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips, early Radiohead, and of course, Pink Floyd.
The album may seem short at only nine tracks, but there are enough ideas crammed into ‘Curve Of The Earth’ to call it one of the most well rounded records of 2016.
Amidst an assortment of abandoned buttons in a former button factory, Mystery Jets have recorded their most ambitious work to date with album number five.
Curve of the Earth is an ode to the uncertainty of the quarter-life crisis that somehow manages to make that awkward entry into maturity sound bittersweet and beautiful at once.
More slowly paced, and more sincere, Mystery Jets have matured out of that tricky mid-noughties adolescence.
Instead of the endearing idiosyncrasies that characterised their earliest records 10 years ago, we have the crunching chords of Taken By the Tide’s mega-chorus and the plaintive vocals and morse-code guitar of Telomere.
Written and recorded back in London, Curve of the Earth, the band’s sixth album, is an overt corrective—a return to their British sensibilities. Problem is, they’ve sought out some of the most generic reference points imaginable.
All in all, Curve of the Earth comes across a little on the self-indulgent side, and although most bands evolve and move on from past successes, over-complicating things can lead to that band losing their sense of character and identity.
This album has such a good sound and ambience and i love how the songs all have time to spread out without feeling too long
Favourite Songs: Telomere, Midnight's Mirror, 1985
Really not what I expected having only heard Twenty-One. The album has a beautiful ambience and songs that feel very poignant and heart-felt. It feels every song has its moments though there's only a couple I would say I enjoy all of and some of them can drag on a bit. It certainly has a celestial dimension in the production while also staying incredibly grounded in its storytelling.
Telomere - 80
Bombay Blue - 75
Bubbluegum - 90
Midnight's Mirror - 85
1985 - 75
Blood Red Balloon - 70
Taken by ... read more
1 | Telomere 3:54 | 90 |
2 | Bombay Blue 4:55 | 85 |
3 | Bubblegum 4:25 | 80 |
4 | Midnight's Mirror 5:56 | 70 |
5 | 1985 4:04 | 75 |
6 | Blood Red Balloon 6:44 | 80 |
7 | Taken by the Tide 5:36 | 85 |
8 | Saturnine 6:20 | 75 |
9 | The End Up 6:30 | 70 |
#22 | / | Dork |