Remember back in January when Matthew Dear released the pretty nifty four-song EP, Headcage? Well, if you enjoyed that tasty morsel of dance-art-pop, you’ll be excited to learn that the follow-up full-length has finally been announced. To be released August 27 on Ghostly International, Beams continues the progression found on Headcage away from the dark brooding of Dear’s 2010 album, Black City (TMT Review), toward a brighter, almost tropical bent on Dear’s brand of abstracted popscaping.
On the first single, “Her Fantasy,” Dear’s vocals take on the tone of Bowie at his froggiest, crooning about love in some Brazilian discotheque at dawn, all filtered through the gauzy light of morning and sleepiness. It’s a fun track that continues to surge ever forward for a floor-stomping 6+ minutes, and in classic Matthew Dear style, it takes about 600 turns that all somehow work within the structure of the larger piece.
Some insight into Dear’s schizophrenic yet cohesive style? “I’m about 4 to 5 different people at any given time,” Dear says. “By allowing all of those different personalities to exist - the most pure and direct self can come through in the music.” So that explains it! Dear’s multiple personalities (all charmingly tall, dark, and handsome) are wrestling it out in every track to produce these golden nuggets of off-kilter dance epic. Keep this man off meds at all costs.
Beams tracklisting:
01. Her Fantasy
02. Earthforms
03. Headcage
04. Fighting Is Futile
05. Up & Out
06. Overtime
07. Get The Rhyme Right
08. Ahead of Myself
09. Do The Right Thing
10. Shake Me
11. Temptation
• Matthew Dear: http://www.matthewdear.com
• Ghostly International: http://ghostly.com