21 Again

While deeply connected as a duo, Mouse On Mars has also always felt like an open system – Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma regularly bring in collaborators to work with on their albums, and their reach is wide, tentacling out into film and visual art. For 21 Again, they celebrate ‘coming of age’ by inviting like-minded spirits to collaborate on tracks, which were then compiled into a double album. Much of the track list is no real surprise – Laetitia Sadier, Cavern Of Anti-Matter, Junior Boys, Schlammpeitziger, F.X. Randomiz, Scratch Pet Land, Matthew Herbert, Oval all appear, part of the loose community Mouse On Mars have developed over the years. But there’s something lovely about the way everyone pitches in on the set – the abstract story Sadier speaks over “My Toe Is On Fire” is a particular highlight, a collaboration that signals both comfort in collaboration, and the way all parties have changed and developed over the years. Indeed, the best contributions do just that, allowing both difference and repetition to play their part. There’s also a larger 21 Again box set available, which is well worth hunting down, also including an LP of Peel Sessions, an archive-digging set of unreleased tracks, and their long-form ensemble piece Paeanumnion.