Above & Beyond has officially dropped Common Ground, its fourth studio album, and it's everything you love about the trio and more.
Lead track "The Inconsistency Principle" opens like a ray of brilliant sun through parted clouds, soft at first but stronger and brighter with every chord. It's warm, majestic and a little futuristic in a space-folk kind of way, then it melts into the album's first catchy synthetic hook on "My Own Hymn," with Zoe Johnston, a song fans will recognize from sets throughout 2017.
It takes a bouncy turn on "Northern Soul" with Richard Bedford, but with 13 tracks, there's quite a bit to be explored. "Sahara Love," another collab with Johnston, brings an almost '80s pop perkiness before a soulful stillness, as do the string arrangements of "Happiness Amplified" with Bedford. The album also features a handful of tracks with Justine Suissa and one with The Lake Poets' singer-songwriter Marty Longstaff.
It's a journey of ups and downs, as is to be expected from the cinematic, ethereal masters. "Always," near the end, is still a hefty moment and they tie it all back to the feel of the beginning on the album's title-track closer, "Common Ground."
| A1 | The Inconsistency Principle | 3:18 |
| A2 | My Own Hymn | 3:49 |
| A3 | Northern Soul | 5:36 |
| A4 | Naked | 5:24 |
| B1 | Sahara Love | 5:08 |
| B2 | Happiness Amplified | 5:33 |
| B3 | Is It Love? (1001) | 5:44 |
| C1 | Cold Feet | 5:35 |
| C2 | Tightrope | 3:24 |
| C3 | Alright Now | 5:37 |
| D1 | Bittersweet & Blue | 5:26 |
| D2 | Always | 4:11 |
| D3 | Common Ground | 3:34 |
