Album Review by Mark Bayross
Two years after his well received debut HOMESONGS, Adem returns with another album of pretty pastoral folktronica, this time reverberating with the central concept of space. A heady subject indeed and one that we can assume goes further than lasers and shiny silver suits.
Indeed, the Big Themes abound: the title track addresses the question of us not being alone in the universe; SPIRALS compares falling in love to the endless music of the planets; and the closing HUMAN BEINGS GATHER ROUND takes us to the very point of the end of creation, 2001-style.
Contrast this with the whispered introspection of songs like SEA OF TRANQUILITY and LAST TRANSMISSION and you have an album that looks well within itself while reaching out as far as humanly possible. This leads to some quite wonderful moments of rousing beauty (THESE LIGHTS ARE MEANINGFUL and SOMETHING’S GOING TO COME being standouts), enhanced by glittering production that throws in glockenspiels, thumb pianos, handclaps and all manner of found sounds.
As concepts go, you don’t get further out than this, but LOVE AND OTHER PLANETS remains an intensely personal album that almost everyone will connect with.
