New wave hero MAtAre has finally collected his many recent singles into a cohesive album, ‘Extinction Burst’, out today. We spent a fair amount of words praising his work in the last year or so; each track offered something new, while staying true to the overall theme. New wave, dark wave: wherever you want to call it, it’s clear that MatAre is a keen observer of the scene, something that we deeply relate to because we absolutely love the genre.
In fact, his singles always had a familiar trait, meaning that both us and MatAre have probably listened to the same records… it turns out, that’s pretty true. The Atlanta-based musician is rather adamant about his sources. You’ve got your 80s lenient, nostalgic staples, such as The Cure and New Order, but you’ve also got hidden gems, like Italian band Soviet Soviet: their fast-paced, frantic style is perfectly mirrored in ‘Slicing Knives’. We know that band very well, so we fully appreciate what MatAre is trying to do. The fact that someone in Atlanta and the US appreciates a niche European act is also a surprise.
Every successful album needs the right collaborators, and in this case, we find Gabe Wolf on mixing and mastering and Italian drummer Francesca Pratt on rhythm duties. A long, energetic, and expansive record, ‘Extinction Burst’ was originally born from MatAre’s reaction to his country’s collapsing political landscape. Social inequality and corruption sparked a musical exploration that we suspect served as escapism, a means to process negative emotions and transform them into a positive force. Mission accomplished.
Recommended! Discover ‘Extinction Burst’ on Spotify:
