That and his new album, Lucid,
which took three years to make as Matt wanted to put his foot into a deeper
step from his previous work and go into a dark territory, but at times an
uplifting momentum from start to finish, is a hypnotic album that he has
unleashed this year. And with help from; Pat Mastelotto of King Crimson,
Charlie Cawood of Knifeworld, Emmett Elvin of Chrome Hoof and Guapo, and
Lorenzo Feliciati of Naked Truth to name a few, this is almost like coming out
of the door that you haven’t opened for a long, long time and getting a chance
to get your seat belts ready for an amazing journey that you are about to
experience.
Opener, Oxymoron
kicks the album off with a heavy post-rock rhythm section as the title seems
like a perfect way to fit the atmosphere. It contains Matt’s guitar lines both
in the rhythm and lead section as he goes through various sections in the melody
both spiritual and ominous at times as the instruments carry on as a team to go
into alternative rock styles, but with some haywire and feedback vibes that
makes it a perfect way to start the introduction with a bang.
He and Kevin Feazey, who does some of the programming with the
electronic instruments, go into a ‘80s sound and dark/cavernous atmosphere
through the loops with Flow, makes it
feel as if they had done another film score while Unsettled is another disturbing composition that is like a powder
keg ready to explode. It features some twisted guitar work, fuzztone bass, and intense
drum work that is almost could have been used during the sessions for Radiohead’s
OK Computer-era.
The acoustic and the Pipa, in which it is a Chinese musical
instrument that is two-thousand years old, makes it a calming yet relaxing
moment for Matt and the group to get a chance to calm down for a cooling
uptempo beat on The Other Side. Meanwhile,
both The Ascent and KEA, are both an homage to an insane and
disturbing yet superb tribute to The Mahavishnu Orchestra that at times go
through a dystopian surroundings of an electric and gothic-acoustic
surroundings of The Inner Mounting Flame and the Dance of the Maya to show Matt’s
true love and staying true to the band’s music and his tribute to John
McLaughlin.
There is also another homage to Italian Prog-Rock legends
Goblin on the eerie yet disturbing beauty on Coulrophobia, which feels almost as if it was used during Suspiria
as Matt travels back in time to the late ‘60s with a psychedelic twist with a
Nuggets feel (Garage Rock style!) on the title track. Then he goes into the
future with the fast-driven tempo on the acoustic guitar both rhythm and lead
and the drumming and doing his work and honor in the styles of Jonny Greenwood
on the atmospheric, Street and Circus. Then,
in comes the 11-minute piece, The Bridge.
It begins with a rumbling introduction that has a King
Crimson vibe for the first few minutes, but then it goes into the ambient
voyages of the future to have a touch of Mike Oldfield’s classical guitar lines
in the midsection to get the quiet and pin-drop vibe in the distant voyages of
space. And then, they head back into the ‘70s Prog-Rock vibe with a touch of
Red into the mix as the spoken word by Trojan Horse’s Nicholas Wyatt Duke,
gives a tiny bit of dialogue as the spacey noise closes the curtain.
The closer, A Boy, is
Matt’s lullaby. Just a gentle yet almost classical guitar melody with a
beautiful folky and jazz chord progression that he brings to the table to close
the album off with a touch of the ‘70s Acid Folk sound. Lucid is a tremendous and fantastic sound of Matt Stevens work that
is powerful, touching and even a strong follow up to his previous work. And
this is one of the albums that is probably going to be album of the year for
2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment