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An elegant and spacious record, Everybody Knows betrays only a little hint at the Young Gods grandiloquent and wild past. They seem to have settled on following a meditational path with this LP. Tracks like Two To Tango, Introducing and Blooming lay down quiet grooves, aided by some crackling noises and swirling synths. It’s verging on singer-songwriter territory at times. Some tracks go to very quiet places indeed – such as the abstraction of Aux Anges – though this track is reminiscent of earlier work. And sometimes you detect a smile and a softening of outlook: Mr. Sunshine is a quiet love song to all things Nature driven by some trippy sound effects and a quiet though bustling rhythm. Miles Away is possibly the highlight of the LP, a great, clear-eyed mix of pastoral reflection and slightly trancey work-out: acoustic guitars and clever electronics give a great sense of direction and momentum, but never get in your face or irritate at any point. The track blossoms with a change of pace about 6 minutes before fading out in a blissful afterglow. It’s marvellous stuff.
So overall it’s a quiet record: just when you think something is going to break through, there’s a retreat into a controlled though often very beautiful – electronic soundscape. No Land’s Man kicks up enough dust in that widescreen way they always did on L’Eau Rouge or TV Sky, and Tenter Le Grillage rumbles along in a menacing enough manner and the last track Once Again is a determined plod that now and again shakes off the fetters to wig out.
Enjoyable and meditative record: just don’t expect them to blow the roof off.