Monday, February 2, 2009

Love & Other Planets - Adem (RIPPED OFF 08)


Love & Other Planets
Adem

Courtesy of Domino Records.
Original SCQ Review here.


When Four Tet emerged from a small jam-band to critical acclaim with his 2003 effort Rounds, few people took a second look at Fridge’s offshoot potential. Those people likely missed the fragile warmth of Homesongs and 2006’s gorgeous Love & Other Planets; two albums that give voice and imagination to Fridge’s fractured folk arrangements. As Adem’s sophomore is among my RIPPED OFF albums of the year, you could rightly assume that I was among those who disregarded the multi-instrumentalist’s solo career until last January, when a visit to his myspace opened my eyes.

From the atmospheric ‘Last Transmission from the Lost Mission’ to ‘Spirals’ lilting acoustics to ‘Launch Yourself’’s tribal-pop, Love & Other Planets is a varied set of fully-realized songs that treat Adem’s jumbled intergalactic romanticism with a distinction worthy of our vast universe. His vocals and songwriting both exhibit a stronger confidence but this album’s production is what separates this prog-folk messiah from the lo-fi hero of yore. If you’re among many who found the last Fridge album to be pretty careless, Love & Other Planets’ precision and detail will make you wonder what Four Tet has really done for you lately.

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