Mystery Jets Are All Grown Up (and Singing About It)

Mystery Jets have been around for a while. The quartet first appeared on my radar in 2008, when their single 'Young Love' featured a lovely lady named Laura Marling. (You may have heard of her.) Even then, they peddled perfectly polished indie pop: bouncy and light and something you'd hum long after listening. They were shamelessly "in love with the girl two doors down" and full of quirky fun.

But, I'll be honest—I hadn't checked in with these guys in a few years. I'd missed 2012's Radlands, which took the group on a very American detour (exhibit A: the Texas-shaped album cover). If I had, I may have been less surprised by new album Curve of the Earth, which showcases a band that's all grown up: they've blended the bounce with something more sophisticated.

I caught Mystery Jets at Rough Trade East, where they played some of the new material, some classics, and an excellent cover of David Bowie's 'Five Years'. Their set really sold me on the album; you could hear the evolution of their sound very clearly. And, maybe it's because I'm a bit more grown up too, the songs that resonated most were ones that explore themes of growing older—like 'The End Up', with lines like "And as I listen to them talk/And watch their babies learn to walk/It's me who's finding my feet." (Ask anyone roughly in their mid-twenties: this struggle is so real.) I couldn't help but love the Beatles-esque touches in songs like 'Saturnine' (says the Guardian: it "sounds as if John Lennon joined the Beach Boys"), or the absolute jam that is 'Taken By the Tide'. And for fans of the Mystery Jets of yore, 'Bubblegum' or 'Bombay Blue' have you covered. 

In other words, Curve of the Earth is a mature, well-rounded album, bursting with ideas and themes. And I'm enjoying it more and more with each listen.