Mystery Jets 'Curve Of The Earth' review

Image: Mystery Jets 

It's been a winding road since Mystery Jets first emerged as boppy indie pop bandits to where they now find themselves. 10 years later the band have up-scaled their sonics massively, sounding ultimately epic as each soaring melody swells on this fifth album.

Over the past two albums the progression has been gradual. Serotonin set the curve with a distinct hedonism about it and Radlands dabbled with a conceptual feel - sounding like a mid-western barn dance. 

It feels like they've been building to this fifth album; it is the bands most ambitous, experimental and atmospheric record that provokes more mind-bending moments than jovial - a ratio that was previously reversed in the past.  

Where the aesthetics of the Mystery Jets sound has altered, Blaine's unmistakable voice is still the centre-piece. They've recruited a new bassist - Jack Flanagan - for the album and the synergy is evident as each instrumental element combines to an atmospheric space-aged pulse. 

Lead single 'Telomere' initiates the poignancy of the album; Blaine sings "And the people walking down below/crawling home like spiders/as the cancer stars to grow" to chilling effect. 

There's scattered leads of influence throughout its nine tracks. 'Bubblegum' nods to a The War On The Drugs riff; 'Blood Red Balloon' slurps a psychoactive toad, as does 'Midnight's Mirror' with eerie synths and fluttering guitar. 'Saturnine' stomps Pink Floyd territory with a guitar solo of tremendous accomplishment.   

The piano led '1985' continues our voyage of the solar system with Blaine's exploration of Saturn; 'Taken By The Tide' takes a melancholic nosedive with its lyrics about the loss of a loved one - albeit helped along by an astral chorus of incredible velocity that paints the ambition and drive of this arcane yet paradoxically accessible album. 

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