Curve of the Earth

Mystery Jets - Curve of the Earth
Critic Score
Based on 17 reviews
2016 Ratings: #625 / 1004
User Score
Based on 88 ratings
2016 Rank: #392
Liked by 6 people
January 15, 2016 / Release Date
LP / Format
Caroline / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

80
musicOMH

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.

80
AllMusic

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.

80
NME

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.

80
DIY

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.

75
The Line of Best Fit
A record’s worth of epic, towering soundscapes built on sturdy prog and indie rock foundations.
70
Under the Radar

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.

70
Drowned in Sound
Mystery Jets are old hands at this now – and while this offering doesn’t have the immediacy that classics such as ‘Two Doors Down’ and ‘Serotonin’ bring, it is a necessary record from a band that needs to work out where it goes from here.
70
Clash
It’s the balance of maturity and melody that will keep you going back to this album. They’ve grown up, but then so have their fans. Let's just see where they go from here.
60
The Skinny

More slowly paced, and more sincere, Mystery Jets have matured out of that tricky mid-noughties adolescence.

60
The Guardian

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.

60
Paste

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.

50
No Ripcord

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.

TerraTom
79

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

NarrowTastesNev
81

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

43Music
69

the only decent mystery jets album I've listen to

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Track List

1Telomere
3:54
90
2Bombay Blue
4:55
85
3Bubblegum
4:25
80
4Midnight's Mirror
5:56
70
51985
4:04
75
6Blood Red Balloon
6:44
80
7Taken by the Tide
5:36
85
8Saturnine
6:20
75
9The End Up
6:30
70
Total Length: 48 minutes

Year End Lists

#22/Dork
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Added on: November 1, 2015