In the beginning, it was impossible to predict subtractiveLAD's musical evolution. It was as if his first album 'Giving Up The Ghost' was the initial splash from a pebble thrown into a pond and each subsequent album a ripple which grew broader in scope, became less disruptive and more meditative. They have all had one key aspect in that Stephen Hummel, the man who records as subtractiveLAD, has always been genuine in the projection of emotions in his music. He does record for the ever emotionally driven n5MD imprint after all. On "Life At the End of the World," Hummel's 6th album, percussive elements, pretense of genre, and theoretical pollutants that could cloud the candid nature of this current ripple in Hummel's pond are a thing of the past. The result is one of subtractiveLad's most lush yet thread bare albums to date. Eno could be referenced, although Hummel now prefers the guitar as his main instrument. Further, "Life At the End of the World" is not all ambient movements and variations on a theme. At the three quarters point the album takes a tense turn with passages that would not be out of place on albums from Ben Frost or Jasper Tx. One wonders what is really at the end of Hummel's world? "Life at the end of the world" is Hummel's catharsis, anxiety, and joy. We can hear that he is at a crossroads in his life and subsequently has created his largest most majestic ripple in the pond yet.

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