Do you have any idea what ‘space pop’ is? Nope, I didn’t either. I can assure you, after reading this introduction to The Landing, you will! Even better, you can dive into it by listening to the brand new EP called How Strange To Be.

The Landing is an indie pop artist based in New York. Although he was clasically trained in music, his fascination with electronic music took over when he started to write and record as a solo artist. This however doesn’t mean that this classical background doesn’t influence his current musical output, because it does, just as indie pop, EDM and music from composers from the 50s and 60s, when man started to explore the universe through travelling in space. He took inspiration from this music from the ‘space age’ and dubbed his own subgenre ‘Space Pop’. His fascination with space, the universe and everything involved, is clear hearable in his sometimes futuristic productions, with lots of synths and ‘bleeps’, but it is also apparent in the visual part of his music, as there are lots of nods towards space travelling in the artwork.

However, when listening to the ‘How Strange To Be’ EP, it becomes apparent that especially through lyrics, The Landing is continiously questioning, doubting, trying to explore, trying to explain our little place in the universe. Sometimes this gets deep and philosophical, but through the uplifting and/or laidback productions and melodies, he sees it his task to present ‘anthems for the optimistic’. He clearly succeeds on opening track ‘Back To The Stars’, an uptempo track with a compelling atmosphere and an almost thunderous chorus with catchy chants. On the second song, ‘Then Comes The Wonder’, which was number 1 in Hype Machine recently, handclaps, bleeps and interesting lyrics come together in a highly contagious melody. For ‘Fire In The Sky’ and ‘Everything; All The Time’ the pace is somewhat slower with a more laidback vibe, but not without melodies that breathe an uplifting vibe with a spacey atmosphere. The EP is closed by a remastered version of ‘Anxieties’, a greatly produced track The Landing released a year ago. This EP is a great body of work with a completely unique sound and identity. Well done!