The new Sonic Boom album, All Things Being Equal, won't especially surprise anyone. I mean, it is unlikely not going to win over new fans who weren't already followers of Sonic Boom (Pete Kember), or his previous outfits (Spacemen 3 and Spectrum, among others). But it is a work of great beauty and surprising power.
"The Way That You Live" suggests that Kember is interesting in being more accessible here on All Things Being Equal but far more tracks suggest otherwise. "I Can See Light Bend", for instance, and "Just a Little Piece of Me" blend Kraftwerk-like electronic textures with submerged vocals, the whole of each track sort of dissolving in upon itself with further scrutiny. This is music that works best as a sort of trance-like thing, the fruits of an attempt to make pop that simultaneously disorients and unhinges a listener. "Things Like This (A Little Bit Deeper)", another gem here, works up a primitive rhythm that is nearly like a march even as Kember's warm vocals push this into another direction.
At times on All Things Being Equal, like on "Spinning Coins and Wishing on Clovers", Pete Kember seems to have let his technology overwhelm his intent. However, for the few missteps that are here, All Things Being Equal has a real hypnotic strength as an album, with closer "I Feel a Change Coming On" building to a near-euphoric pitch as the waves of keyboards purr and throb around Kember's disembodied performance. During this one, a listener can feel as if things are washing away, and eternity is looming in the distance. At moments, at least, Sonic Boom seems like he's making some really profound tunes. That they are constructed out from Kember's fevered imagination so simply, and put forth without seemingly so much effort are why this music is so entrancing.
All Things Being Equal is out now via Carpark Records.
More details on Sonic Boom on the official website.
[Photo: Sonic Boom Bandcamp]