{"product_id":"sonic-boom-all-things-being-equal","title":"Sonic Boom All Things Being Equal","description":"It’s auspicious that Sonic Boom—the solo project and nom-deproducer of Peter Kember (Spectrum, Spacemen 3)—returns in\r\n2020 with its first new LP in three decades. Kember’s drawn to\r\nthe year’s numerological potency, and this intentionality shines\r\ninto every corner of All Things Being Equal. It’s a meditative,\r\nmathematical record concerned with the interconnectedness\r\nof memory, space, consumerism, consciousness—everything.\r\nThrough regenerative stories told backwards and forwards,\r\nKember explores dichotomies zen and fearsome, reverential of\r\nhis analog toolkit and protective of the plants and trees that support our lives.\r\nSonic Boom’s second album and first for Carpark began in\r\n2015 as electronic jams. The original sketches of electronic\r\npatterns, sequenced out of modular synths, were so appealing that Stereolab’s Tim Gane encouraged Kember to release\r\nthem instrumentally. “I nearly did,” confesses Kember, “but the\r\nvibe in them was so strong that I couldn’t resist trying to ice the\r\ncake.” Three years later, a move to Portugal saw him dusting off\r\nthe backing tracks, adding vocals inspired by Sam Cooke, The\r\nSandpipers, and the Everly Brothers (which he admits “don’t\r\ngo far from the turntable pile”), as well as speculative, ominous\r\nspoken word segments. His new home Sintra’s parks and gardens provided a different visual context for Kember’s thoughtful\r\nobservations, and he thematically incorporated sunshine and\r\nnature as well as global protests into the ten resulting tracks.\r\n“Music made in sterility sounds sterile,” he says, “And that is my\r\nidea of hell.”\r\nOver the vivid, calculating arps of opener “Just Imagine,”\r\nKember nudges listeners to do as the title suggests. It’s based\r\non a story he read about a boy who healed his cancer by picturing himself as a storm cloud, raining out his illness. “The Way\r\nThat You Live,” a rollicking drone powered by drum machine\r\nrattles and bright chord beds, morphs political distrust into a\r\nrevolutionary mantra about ethical living. “I try and live my life by\r\nvoting every day with what I do and how I do it, who I do it with\r\nand the love that I can give them along the way,” offers Kember.\r\nAn unusually curated gear list accompanies each song, unexpected layers reinforcing the monophonic skeletons. Mystery\r\nsoundscapes and grinding sweeps were teased from EMS\r\nsynths, synonymous with and evocative of ‘60s BBC scoring and\r\n‘70s Eno. Pacing basslines oscillating into warbling heartbeats\r\ncame from a cheap ‘80s Yamaha. A modern OP-1 generated\r\nsubtle kicks and eerie theremins, while his toy Music Modem—\r\nan unused holdover from sessions Kember produced for Beach\r\nHouse and MGMT—finally found its recorded home\n\nJust 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\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInternal ID: JITRE\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGenre: Indie \u0026amp; Alternative\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReleased: 6\/26\/20\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFormat Detail: CD\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHandling Note: **Please allow an additional 72 hours for this item's shipment.**\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFormat: CD\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Sonic Boom","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53465834094776,"sku":"WZVVR6-3CFL-WD","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/9222\/8280\/files\/sonic-boom-all-things-being-equal_CHAjA.jpg?v=1778773989","url":"https:\/\/musicrecordshop.com\/products\/sonic-boom-all-things-being-equal","provider":"Music Record Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}