Matthew E. White – K Bay (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24bit/44,1kHz | Time – 57:34 minutes | 676 MB | Genre: Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Domino Recording Co
K Bay, White’s first solo album in six years, is the astounding record he has forever aspired to make. A bold reclamation of independence and identity, K Bay establishes White as one of his era’s most imaginative artists. These 11 pieces are retro-futurist magic tricks that feel instantly classic and contemporary, the product of a musical mind that has internalized the lessons of his idols and used them to build a brilliant world of his own.
Author, composer, singer, producer and arranger, Matthew E. White made a name for himself with his first album, Big Inner, in 2012, which was followed by Fresh Blood in 2015. That makes K Bay the third solo work by the artist, released in September 2021. He still draws on such a range of sources and influences: the fruit of the whole history of pop over the last fifty years. Electric, the second track, sounds very Zappa-esque, both in how it is sung and in its offbeat choruses and humorously absurdist lyrics. Matthew E. White takes us through a kaleidoscope of references, sounds, genres and styles that are diverse and varied, but always seductive and pleasant. Let’s Ball is a funny head-bopper and feels like a great big joke, but at the same time it is a convincing disco track, the sort to fill dance floors. Only in America / When The Curtains of the Night are Peeled Back is a strange song of almost seven minutes in length, on which White talks for long stretches about society, then about the song, and one thinks of Laurie Anderson’s songs tinged with electronics and spoken word… In short, Matthew E. White has worked up a crop of beautiful influences and references, and has produced a convincing, funny, inventive and terribly contemporary album. Judy returns to the Zappa vein with a sort of Elton John parody, with its pounding piano reminiscent of Still Standing, an old eighties hit by the Englishman with pop sunglasses. One also thinks of the Beach Boys, of whom Matthew E. White is a big fan. The end result is a great album, flamboyant and funny, that invites us to take it back to the start and listen to it all again as soon as the final track finishes playing. – Yan C’eh
Tracklist:
1. Genuine Hesitation (07:10)
2. Electric (03:29)
3. Nested (04:34)
4. Take Your Time (And Find That Orange to Squeeze) (06:18)
5. Let’s Ball (03:48)
6. Fell Like an Ax (06:37)
7. Only in America / When the Curtains of the Night Are Peeled Back (feat. Joseph “JoJo” Clarke) (06:56)
8. Never Had It Better (05:53)
9. Judy (03:51)
10. Shine a Light for Me (03:56)
11. Hedged in Darkness (05:02)
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