Slow Meadow is Houston musician Matt Kidd, whose lovely debut album was reviewed on this site by yours truly. I was honored to be approached to write something about Kidd’s beautiful new single entitled “Lachrymosia” (Latin Lacrimosa, or weeping), out May 20 on Hammock Music.
It is the beginning of a series of singles that will be released throughout the rest of this year, roughly once per month in an “A/B vinyl” style with a main single and a B side. “Lachrymosia” is a wordless ballad themed around the concept that there are stages of grief, and that we all deal with our plight in different ways. That said, I cannot say I felt grief or even despair hearing such gorgeous music. Much in the way that Hammock does, Kidd has found a way to infuse his graceful, lilting compositions with emotion, sometimes threatening to spill over beyond the reality of the listening experience. The A side is particularly striking, and I adore the string sections meshed with dreamy washes of piano. The song takes you up, and sooner than you’d like, it ends suddenly, almost likely a brief flash of candlelight on a dark night.
The B-side, “Some Familiar”, is slow and ponderous, more minimalist in scale if not in execution. It veers a bit closer to the trippy ambience that Hammock and Kidd both are so brilliant at. Both songs are carefully crafted and exquisitely wrought, and are well worth your time. Highly recommended for fans of A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Hammock, Olafur Arnalds, and Nils Frahm.
