NEW AGE OF EARTH

This album is a journey. One thing that constantly amazes me about this record is how perfectly layered it is, often with so many different streams of sound cascading into you. What I love the most about this album however is that if I listen to it closely I am treated to some of the most thoughtful, developed and subtle psych / electronic / kraut I have ever heard. But when I listen to the album as background music it functions wonderfully as a mood inducer, and more importantly for an insomniac like myself, a sleep inducer.

I don't think the albums perfect, the drum machine can at times be off-putting and, to be perfectly frank, this album doesn't push any envelope and remains safe.

Many reviewers have mentioned how they find 'Nightdust' to be their favorite track but for me I find that this is the opposite, it's not that the song is bad but that it feels like it meanders too much whereas the other songs accomplish what they set out to do in a much shorter and more concise manner. I feel as though 'Nightdust' doesn't really pick up until the last ten minutes which, from then on in, it is utterly jaw-dropping. For me, the highlight is the album is the middle, the songs 'Ocean of Tenderness' and 'Deep Distance' take you on such a journey in their own right, beautiful and ethereal but at the same time, feeling focused and driven.

The real strength here is listening to the album as a whole, each song individually couldn't come close to holding up to the journey that the whole album is able to take you through, from start to finish this record is absolutely fantastic.

4/5 stars