Downward Is Heavenward is the fourth and last studio album by the Champaign, Illinois

Champaign, Illinois

Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...

 post-hardcore

Post-hardcore

Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...

 band Hum

Hum (band)

Hum is a post-hardcore band from Champaign, Illinois. They are best known for their 1995 radio hit "Stars." Hum has not been consistently active as a recording or touring group since 2000.-Founding and early recordings:...

. It was released in 1998 by RCA Records

RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

.

Reception

Despite selling fewer copies than its predecessor You'd Prefer an Astronaut

You'd Prefer an Astronaut

You'd Prefer an Astronaut is the third studio album by the Champaign, Illinois post-hardcore band Hum. It was released in 1995 by RCA Records as their major label debut....

, the album was critically acclaimed. Brent DiCrescenzo from Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 praised the abrasive but graceful nature of the album, writing, "A listen to Downward Is Heavenward actually scrubs off a layer of skin, yet Hum still manage to infuse grace and control into their skyward swirl." Ned Ragget from Allmusic wrote, "Having scored their fluke hit with 'Stars

Stars (Hum song)

"Stars" is the second single from Hum's 1995 album You'd Prefer an Astronaut. The single was modestly successful in the United States, peaking at number eleven on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, and at number twenty-eight on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. The single was instrumental in helping You'd...

', Hum hunkered down and created a follow-up album that went nowhere, leading to the band's splintering. An unfortunate result all around, because, arguably, Downward Is Heavenward isn't merely the group's best album, but a lost classic of '90s rock, period." In 1999, Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 placed the album at #81 on their top 100 albums of the 90's.

Track listing

1. "Isle of the Cheetah" – 6:38
2. "Comin' Home" – 2:45
3. "If You Are to Bloom" – 5:11
4. "Ms. Lazarus" – 3:38
5. "Afternoon with the Axolotls" – 6:27
6. "Green to Me" – 3:55
7. "Dreamboat" – 6:06
8. "The Inuit Promise" – 6:06
9. "Apollo" – 5:47
10. "The Scientists" – 5:25

Bonus single

1. "Puppets" – 4:11
2. "Aphids" – 6:08

Personnel

• Jeff Dimpsey – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Tim Lash – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Bryan St. Pere – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Matt Talbot – guitar, vocals