Sweet Trip – A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals (2021) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals marks the return of Sweet Trip, 12 years after the release of their third album, You Will Never Know Why. In usual Sweet Trip fashion, “Secret Speeches” was created out of the blue; nothing planned, not even a sense of direction. Instead, songs poured out with strong emotions and pure love, which dictated every note, every beat, every wash of sounds that adorns this new work.

In A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals, Valerie and Roby have taken lessons learned from previous works: lush soundscapes reminiscent of Halica, strange digital manipulation and sound overload of velocity:design:comfort, the pop sensibility of You Will Never Know Why and have created something that stands on its own – a collection of love songs, ethereal slow jams, blissed out sexy grooves, a love letter in music and sound. “Secret Speeches” gives you a Sweet Trip that embraces their maturity, and still keeps things intriguing and unexpected.

Sweet Trip were largely underappreciated for the first decade-plus of their existence, when they released a handful of albums and EPs that moved from dreamy ambient techno to future-shock IDM to progressive indie pop. Several years after the release of their third album, their music began to find new audiences through various online communities and forums; the band were simply ahead of their time, and the world had started to catch up with them. Velocity : Design : Comfort and You Will Never Know Why, now regarded as cult favorites, were remastered and reissued, and anticipation for their fourth album reached fever pitch. Heralding the group’s return, A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals is another complex epic overflowing with ideas, colliding technology into pure feeling. Opener “Tiny Houses” immediately encapsulates many of the band’s sonic trademarks, beginning with a frenetic burst of noise before glitchy effects and fuzzy shoegaze guitars adorn Valerie Cooper and Roby Burgos’ tender harmonies. During the quieter moments, Burgos sweetly admits “Sleepyhead I dare say, you take my breath away,” in between heavy stereophonic swirls and a dissolving fade-out. “Surviving a Smile” has a more straightforward chillwave rhythm and encouraging lyrics recalling the bittersweet optimism of You Will Never Know Why. Other tracks on the record further explore the band’s more blissed-out ballad side, like “Eave Foolery Mill Five” and the appropriately wintry “Snow Purple Treasures,” although out of nowhere, “Polar Equals” unexpectedly dive-bombs into hard rock and acid electro. Several other tracks feature these types of detours and interludes, like the scrambled radio interference chaos at the end of the otherwise serene “You,” while the instrumental “Randfilt” is one of the album’s more effects-happy selections, setting stuttery glitch-funk beats to spacious guitars. “In Sound, We Found Each Other,” previewed on the 30th Little Darla Has a Treat for You compilation, is a sonic love song that potentially nods to the band’s fan base with the refrain “And we’re cool, just because of you.” “Walkers Beware! We Drive into the Sun,” released as a single shortly before the album, is one of the group’s breeziest confections, gradually building up to shimmering guitars and smooth harmonies, as a steady beat glides through it all. Even though the album contains a lot of fun, chaotic moments, Sweet Trip sound more comfortable taking it slow this time around, and while the hooks aren’t as obvious as they were on the band’s previous two releases, it’s still an immersive experience that rewards repeated listens. – Paul Simpson

Tracklist:

1. Tiny Houses (05:52)
2. Surviving a Smile (05:25)
3. The Weight of Comfort, This Rain is Comfort, This Rain is You (03:29)
4. In Sound, We Found Each Other (05:07)
5. Chapters (05:36)
6. Eave Foolery Mill Five (07:26)
7. Snow Purple Treasures (06:28)
8. Come Spend the Night (02:50)
9. Randfilt (03:50)
10. You (05:08)
11. Walkers Beware! We Drive into the Sun (03:41)
12. Zafire Melts the Heart in Modulation (01:58)
13. Polar Equals (06:38)
14. At Last a Truth That is Real (06:02)

Download:

mqs.link_SweetTripATinyH0useInSecretSpeechesP0larEquals202124441.rar