{"product_id":"sonic-boom-all-things-being-equal-cd","title":"All Things Being Equal (CD)","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s auspicious that Sonic Boom—the solo project and nom-deproducer of Peter Kember (Spectrum, Spacemen 3)—returns in\u003cbr\u003e2020 with its first new LP in three decades. Kember’s drawn to\u003cbr\u003ethe year’s numerological potency, and this intentionality shines\u003cbr\u003einto every corner of All Things Being Equal. It’s a meditative,\u003cbr\u003emathematical record concerned with the interconnectedness\u003cbr\u003eof memory, space, consumerism, consciousness—everything.\u003cbr\u003eThrough regenerative stories told backwards and forwards,\u003cbr\u003eKember explores dichotomies zen and fearsome, reverential of\u003cbr\u003ehis analog toolkit and protective of the plants and trees that support our lives.\u003cbr\u003eSonic Boom’s second album and first for Carpark began in\u003cbr\u003e2015 as electronic jams. The original sketches of electronic\u003cbr\u003epatterns, sequenced out of modular synths, were so appealing that Stereolab’s Tim Gane encouraged Kember to release\u003cbr\u003ethem instrumentally. “I nearly did,” confesses Kember, “but the\u003cbr\u003evibe in them was so strong that I couldn’t resist trying to ice the\u003cbr\u003ecake.” Three years later, a move to Portugal saw him dusting off\u003cbr\u003ethe backing tracks, adding vocals inspired by Sam Cooke, The\u003cbr\u003eSandpipers, and the Everly Brothers (which he admits “don’t\u003cbr\u003ego far from the turntable pile”), as well as speculative, ominous\u003cbr\u003espoken word segments. His new home Sintra’s parks and gardens provided a different visual context for Kember’s thoughtful\u003cbr\u003eobservations, and he thematically incorporated sunshine and\u003cbr\u003enature as well as global protests into the ten resulting tracks.\u003cbr\u003e“Music made in sterility sounds sterile,” he says, “And that is my\u003cbr\u003eidea of hell.”\u003cbr\u003eOver the vivid, calculating arps of opener “Just Imagine,”\u003cbr\u003eKember nudges listeners to do as the title suggests. It’s based\u003cbr\u003eon a story he read about a boy who healed his cancer by picturing himself as a storm cloud, raining out his illness. “The Way\u003cbr\u003eThat You Live,” a rollicking drone powered by drum machine\u003cbr\u003erattles and bright chord beds, morphs political distrust into a\u003cbr\u003erevolutionary mantra about ethical living. “I try and live my life by\u003cbr\u003evoting every day with what I do and how I do it, who I do it with\u003cbr\u003eand the love that I can give them along the way,” offers Kember.\u003cbr\u003eAn unusually curated gear list accompanies each song, unexpected layers reinforcing the monophonic skeletons. Mystery\u003cbr\u003esoundscapes and grinding sweeps were teased from EMS\u003cbr\u003esynths, synonymous with and evocative of ‘60s BBC scoring and\u003cbr\u003e‘70s Eno. Pacing basslines oscillating into warbling heartbeats\u003cbr\u003ecame from a cheap ‘80s Yamaha. A modern OP-1 generated\u003cbr\u003esubtle kicks and eerie theremins, while his toy Music Modem—\u003cbr\u003ean unused holdover from sessions Kember produced for Beach\u003cbr\u003eHouse and MGMT—finally found its recorded home\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJust Imagine\r Just a Little Piece of Me\r Things Like This (A Little Bit Deeper)\r Spinning Coins and Wishing on Clovers\r My Echo, My Shadow and Me\r On a Summer’s Day\r The Way That You Live\r Tawkin TeknoI \r Can See Light Bend\r I Feel a Change Coming On\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFormat Detail: CD\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFormat: CD\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGenre: Indie \u0026amp; Alternative\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Sonic Boom","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42032753410129,"sku":"Z1XRQB-1OD1-FB","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/5023\/8545\/files\/sonic-boom-all-things-being-equal_O67NA.jpg?v=1762496808","url":"https:\/\/apocalypsevinyl.com\/products\/sonic-boom-all-things-being-equal-cd","provider":"Apocalypse Vinyl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}