Adem - 'Love And Other Planets' (Domino) Released 24/04/06

If solo opuses by bass players have been a magnet for much ridicule ever since Spinal Tap's mustachioned lord of the low-end Derek Smalls unveiled his 'Jazz Odyssey' at that infamous amusement park gig, erstwhile Fridge bassist Adem Ilhan managed to patch up their tattered reputation considerably with his acclaimed solo debut 'Homesongs'. That superb 2004 set tackled the rarest of rock 'n' roll of topics, content domesticity, but this follow-up swaps the comforts of the cosy nest for an epic bout of stargazing. Space, be it the vast emptiness of the universe, the space we inhabit or the space between us, pops up repeatedly on the lyric sheet, even if the focus remains on the personal – or, to keep with the theme, the inner-space. 

 

In less capable hands, mixing cosmic themes with matters of the heart might result in a planet-sized portion of acutely embarrassing sugar-coated mush, but Adem’s sense of wide-eyed wonder steers these 12 tracks to a supremely shimmering, heart-warming course. It's not just the scope of the subject matter that's grown. Whereas Homesongs drifted from the speakers with a hush suggesting it'd been recorded at home while the other occupants were dozing, 'Love And Other Planets' often works up enough of a rattle to wake up the neighbours.

 

The clattering barrage of disjointed percussion that propels 'Launch Yourself', for example, is more reminiscent of the recent output by Adem's Fridge partner in post-rock Kieren 'Four Tet' Hebden than anything befitting the new folk-flavoured menu at the Adem-organised Homefires festival. Elsewhere, the initially low-key 'Something's Going to Come' accelerates into a gentle gallop once the drums  - an unthinkably raucous element amidst the intimacy of Homesongs - enter the picture, whilst 'You & Moon' mixes acoustic and electronic elements with the zeal and sure-footed skill of Akron/Family. Adem’s trademark soothing glow, essayed here with especially fine results on ‘Warning Call’ and ‘Spirals’, hasn’t been left on the shelf either.

 

As accomplished, ambitious and frequently innovative the album is, the one nagging suspicion about  'Love And Other Planets' is that the multi-layered arrangements – the plentiful harmonies are a hoot, as are the experimental percussion embellishments – have been roped in partly to conceal a lack of the kind of top-drawer tunes 'Homesongs' was graced with. On the other hand, this is clearly an album that reveals its secrets gradually, with repeated spins rewarding the patient listener amply, and even with a few stale cuts and a mild (literally – ‘Sea of Tranquility’, perhaps appropriately, sounds sedated up to its eyeballs) mid-album dip, Adem continues to hover galaxies ahead of the vast majority of acoustically oriented songwriters.