Subba
REVIEW album Mystery Jets Curve of The Earth

Ahead of The Curve...

Curve of The Earth

Mystery Jets

Eel Pie’s finest are back with their fifth long player, ‘Curve of The Earth’, their first since having a bit of a line-up jig around with original bass player Kai Fish being replaced by Jack Flanagan, who after seeing their recent album playback gig at the ICA seems to have bought a bit of youth and new energy into the band.

First track and first single ‘Telomere’ kicks off the album with just what you could want from the band, with layers and layers of anthemic build up that gives hints of last album Radlands yet also a clear progression that is getting ever further from their original sound on ‘Making Dens’, which is no bad thing at all, what Mystery Jets have been doing is perfecting indie pop for years and they’ve got it down to a tee! That’s not to say we don’t want to hear some first album tunes back in the live set though!

Probably the only band that could, dare we say it, write a song with a synthline that has a hint of Enya about it and still sound relevant in 2016, ‘Bubblegum’ is one of the albums most upbeat and shows off all of their individual musical and songwriting talents perfectly.

The stand out track on the album comes halfway through with ‘Taken By The Tide’ a slow burner telling the tale of a childhood friend that’s now gone, starting off as an acoustic number but gently segueing into a proggy stomp , showing off Blaine Harrison’s unique vocals which set Mystery Jets apart from so many of their more commercially successful yet far less talented contemporaries.

What is notable on ‘Curve of The Earth’ is how guitarist William Rees has been bought to the forefront, previously singing on the odd tune, he takes the lead on a third of this album’s slim nine tracks, but as the old adage goes, much better nine tracks of quality than an album full of filler. ‘Midnights Mirror’ with its meandering bassline and six minutes of slow build up to ‘album closers ‘Saturnine’ and ‘The End Up’ which sounds most like anything from their fourth album ‘Radlands’

So, what they come out with next will always remain a mystery, but that’s what we like about this band, they’re constantly changing, never trying to fit into any trends and come out with another great album that's certainly going to be spinning here for a while yet!

COMMENTS