MatAre has a remarkable ability to channel the spirit of bygone musical eras without ever falling into the traps of obvious imitation or nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. This is not a case of copying or covering, plundering, or plagiarism, no coattails are being ridden here, but I bet I could have a decent stab at what you might find in his record collection…and he probably still has some of it on vinyl; sonic heirlooms to his own sonic learning curve. Instead, “Dissolution” speaks to a deep understanding of musical history and an instinctive feel for the sounds and sensibilities that have shaped alternative music over the decades.
As is the way with MatAre’s music, “Dissolution” effortlessly wanders between conflicting and complementary worlds – gothic atmospherics and the sunlit bliss of dream-pop joy, drawing in elements of darkwave and dance, new wave and alt-pop along the way, refashioning them and giving them new, contemporary purpose.
Those of a certain age and sonic persuasion will immediately recognize the influence of classic bass-led post-punk, the simple yet seductive style recalling the work of Simon Gallop around which chiming guitars shimmer and swirl, dark and driving energies whose sheens flash seductively in those shaded environments.
What stands out is the balance of opposites. There is deftness and drive, poise and pace, melody and mood, not to mention the past and the present. The track feels simultaneously familiar and fresh, rooted in tradition yet fabulously forward-facing. Well, you know what they say about opposites and attraction.
As MatAre himself explains, “Dissolution isn’t about something breaking—it’s about something slowly losing its form until you realize it’s already gone.” And that is a great metaphor for music, of course, it keeps evolving, it must do, but a point comes where those evolutionary paths become a thing unto itself, where its connection to the past becomes more and more fragile, and you realize that this new sound, now, gets to stand on its own two feet. I guess that is what MatAre does, it may be easy to see the influences, but the music MatAre makes is MatAre music!
Or put another way, it isn’t hard to see where MatAre comes from, but it is where he is headed that is the real story.
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