I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Matare’s salvo of singles of the last few months, tasters and teasers of the album to come, but of course, everything makes more sense when they are finally in the place that they call home, sat side-by-side, vying for the listener’s attention, part of their intended whole. And the place that those recent sonic missives call home is Extinction Burst, the debut album from this Atlanta based sonic dream weaver.
For someone making music in the here and now, and an ocean away from the original scene, there is something, perhaps unexpectedly, of the British alternative eighties found in his songs, which is fine by me. More than fine.
The two sonic ends of that era are addressed in the opening brace of songs – “Attach Your Memories” reminiscent of bands like The Church (okay, they’re not British) in its slightly psychedelic take on indie-pop, followed by the brilliantly named “I Could Kill You But I Love You” echoing The Cure at their most effervescent and pop aware.
“That’s What People Do” has some wilder moments, ebbing and flowing between the chiming and the charging, the sonic push and the musical shove, “Here’s Where the Story Begins” contains something of the more delicate bands that Postcard Records would be want to sign and “Do What You Can” blends both modern indie forward thinking and a nod to more pop driven past post-punkery.
It’s easy to level the accusation of retrogressive influences at Matare, though I’m sure he wouldn’t be that upset at such a charge. I prefer to see it another way. Music is cyclical; everything comes around again, nothing is new under the sun. Maybe he isn’t looking back at all; perhaps he is just ahead of the curve and anticipating the next sonic seismic shift, the next zeitgeist, the incoming fashion. This isn’t music coloured by the past; this is an album anticipating what’s to come. Did you ever think of it from that point of view?
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