Mystery Jets have re-announced the release of their latest album ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ after it was postponed last year.
The Indie Rock band are releasing the politically centred album on the 3rd April 2020. The CD and vinyl, however, will not be released until June, due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The ambitious album is filled with poetically infused lyrics, rich harmonies and strong guitar riffs whilst offering an insight into the attitudes of modern-day humanity.
The idea for the new record formed back in 2017 after frontman, Blaine Harrison, witnessed an entire year of protests in London. The outside observation introduces a whole new human element which introduces a level of depth, meaning and empathetic challenge into every track.
The band’s seventh album both subtly and directly challenges current affairs and issues through a variety of sounds, making each track unique to its own and lacing the album with a musical message even stronger than words.
‘Screwdriver’ kick starts the album with its punchy chorus, guitar riffs and seamless shifts in the dynamics and tempo of the track. The angry track pushes the motion of fighting with love over other means and creates an explosive intro for ‘A Billion Heartbeats’.
The dystopian ‘Pretty Drone’ similarly uses the melody and vocals to comment on a capitalised world filled with surveillance. The track challenges our dependency on social media and the realisation that our experiences are being sold back to us. The marching beat behind the dystopian lyrics’ blossoms into an eerie ‘psychedelic anger’ that fills the chorus, making the track impossible to forget.
‘History has its Eyes on You’ is another politically inspired track, which communicates the importance of female role models.
Inspired by a 2017 Women’s March in London, it engages a powerful emotional charge using the repetition of ‘be who you needed/when you were younger’ throughout the bridge additionally punctuates the human inspiration behind the track’s creation.
The band successfully achieve a balance of passion, fear and hope throughout most tracks, using varying methods to do so.
A more upbeat approach is used in the title track ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ however, a level of ambiguity and doubt remains in both the vocals and melody.
‘Endless City’ takes a more reflective approach, using a slower and more controlled pace and tempo. The heartbeat in the background and later drums dictate the steady pace, aiding the poignancy of the lyrics ‘here where the people run on fear’ and ‘never on your own but still always feel alone’.
‘Hospital Radio’ and ‘Cenotaph’ both use the uncertainty seen in previous tracks to push the ghostly harmonies and unusual backing melodies. Whilst ‘Hospital Radio’ does develop into a more aggressive tone with the introduction of the drums and electric guitar, both tracks maintain the same level of clarity in the lead vocal.
Whilst the backing vocals and acoustics in ‘Campfire Song’ create a sound more like that of a boyband, the haunting drone in ‘Watching yourself disappear’ and emotional power behind ‘Wrong side of the tracks’ create a huge impact to the end of the album.
Although the album can seem inconsistent with the dramatic range from loud to quiet, aggressive to empathetic. These contradicting attitudes do however compliment the album as a whole in representing the political upheaval in both London and the rest of the world.