Worlds Apart.
Electrifying. Lo-Fang is still the one you want if you're feeling some affection that's hard to convey. Multiplying like chills, the power he's suppling is exactly what you need right now. Locked down and quarantined in love in times of corona social isolation at arms length from your heart. Losing control? Then the man who famously stripped down and classically cello covered the famous John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John 'Grease' musical number for a Chanel cinematic commercial starring Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen and directed by the 'Moulin Rogue' of 'Romeo + Juliet' director Baz Luhrmann, will help you shape up. Following his bold and beautiful 'Blue Film' dark room portrait as moviemaking iconic as 'A Ghost Story's' 'I Get Overwhelmed', that was so much more than some grease (tell me more, tell me more. Then how about 'When We're Fire', 'Light Year', 'Permutations', 'Boris', '88' and the tile track for your synths dream 808? I know I named almost every track...I was meant to), the man is back an unbelievable six years later when we need artists like him now more than ever. Underrated gems like him, bands like The Jezabels or singers like Natalie Prass and legends like Ben Harper. If 'Blue' was isolated at home, this new film 'Near Other Worlds' goes into the wild to the sorts of woods Bon Iver gets lost in. Put this epic next to all the permutations of the 'Silver' lining of the 'Every Night' E.P. and it's cello version of 'When We're Fire'. This cellist, classically trained musician with pop sensibilities and Hollywood heartthrob good looks with a French twist always delivers je ne sais quoi classics.
Hair and beard blown out like we all are isolated from our barbers and hairdressers right now, Fang gets his teeth into the woodsman nature of the forest for this lo-fi, lowekey classic. Like he did on the 2018 gem 'The Whole Summer', when he originally wanted this album to come out. But this is the first of many in a 'Near Other Worlds' album series mixed and mastered by the man himself as he tweets, "for all the goddamn sonic detectives out there, on the opening track "honing" there's a "txt message sent" sound, it's there intentionally and meant to encourage the listener to focus especially if they were texting whilst listening." Proving on this inspired instrumental introduction that he always is honing his sound, style and the message it's trying to convey. *Puts phone down*. And these type of perfect production fingertips are all over this volumes record like scratches. Just like parts one and two of the epic soundscape in time of the 'Himalayan Singing Bowls In The Hoh Rainforest' that even a million miles away remind this writer of his time at temples in Kyoto and their tones, whilst lost in the translation of Japan, searching and scrawling for a new way to write and make it right. And as these instrumental breaks segue into the outstanding outro in the form of the perfect pair of songs in the yearning 'I Called, You Waited Up' and the Hemingway 'Old Man and the Sea' of the 'Old Boat', this experiential artist is getting his John Frusciante solo album on with his stirring soundscape that's as natural as the real world itself beyond the skyscrapers and smartphones.
Haunting like being woken up in the middle of the night whilst falling asleep to the sounds of 'Every Night', 'Near' is as otherworldly as they come. The strings to the 'Near Other Worlds' theme score this series like the soundtrack it's about to become. Beautifully making its way into the wonderful 'We're Not Different' that truly relates. "Before I could never calm down/Now I can't leave the ground/Weightless but still I can't move/Time less/But that will end soon", Matthew Jordan Hemerlein AKA Lo-Fang sings as he truly center's himself from the man who once sang about 'Animal Urges' (which just for the record there's nothing wrong with. Talk about natural. We all have 'em. I'm having them right not. TMI Tim...TMI). The Fang of the 'You're The One That I Want' singer harsh but hallmark electronic sounds return on 'You're The Friend I Need'. Whilst the soft and soothing sounds of Lo continue on the 'Rainforest Ocarina' sounds and the 'In The Belly Of The Moon' cello intro that harks back to '88'. The belly of the song itself has a beautiful distort from the man who always tried to balance the masculine and feminine aspects of his music for the mainstream or whatever stream his sound would surface on. It's as groundbreaking as it is beautiful like this whole album. Lust like the evergreen ambience of the Amber Hurst-Martin, Carlos Nino, Lucky Paul and Tree Frogs lilypad, "half remembered dream" of the 'Half Moon Glow' complete with goat bleats. "Drink the tea I prepared for you", he sings like Erykah Badu. But it's the jagged edges of 'Silver Peak' that really is the best cut on this single singers hot streak. The album artwork sees a discarded cello on top of some clothes on the grass as this man has au naturale gone al fresco as nature intended, truly being open to a whole new world. But far from his last dance, Jordan rules on a record that isn't an album...its an experience. 'Near Other Worlds', Lo-Fang has just given us the most beautiful album of the year for our time in the most brutal year of our lives. Nothing will sound quite as good as this until the day we finally hear an old friend call our name and we're no longer lost in the woods. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'We're Not Different', 'In The Belly Of The Moon', 'Silver Peak'.
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