Though the all-English vocals may throw you, Syd Matters is actually Freedom... I mean French. Having built up a solid European fan base, the careful task of how to break the man in North America was left to V2 Records (White Stripes, Blanche). They decided it was best to pool together most of his last studio album, Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles, with a few tracks off his 2003 debut, and an EL-P remix in order to test the water. Being as this was my first exposure to him, I would have to say it was a good call on their part.
Jonathan Morali — whose nom de plum comes from a warped mixing of Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett and Roger Waters — treads the line between Nick Drake's depressive acoustica and Radiohead's moral downtempo folk as if it's always been there. Tracks permeate at first with Syd's stark, lower-key vocals and simple guitar noodlings, often then progressing to some synth-driven peak or merely staying afloat by electronic graces. Truly compelling stuff there, V2. It's the most innovative project they've backed in some time.
1. City Talks
2. Obstacles
3. To All Of You
4. I Care
5. Someday Sometimes
6. Passé Muraille
7. Lost Bird
8. Flow Backwards
9. English Way
10. Middle Class Man
11. Black & White Eyes
12. End & Start Again
13. Battle Of Olympus
14. Bones
15. Someday Sometimes (El-P Remix)
16. What Are You Looking At?
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