The Soft Pink Truth’ beautiful and pontaneou feeling record i a balm in trying time .
The Soft Pink Truth’ beautiful and pontaneou feeling record i a balm in trying time .
Matmo are an incredibly accompli hed duo between their own olo record like the ma terpiece A Chance to Cut I a Chance to Cure and production cla ic Björk record like Ve pertine. But Drew Daniel, one half of Matmo , i fiendi hly prolific. When he’ not literally dreaming up new viral mu ic genre , he’ al o putting out record under the banner of The Soft Pink Truth.
Where Matmo u ually focu e on a pecific mu ical experiment — u ing only ample of medical procedure or building in trument out of PVC tubing — Soft Pink Truth goe wherever Daniel’ whim take him. That might be a hou e record. It might be a bunch of black metal cover . Or, in the ca e of Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increa e?, it could be a hockingly beautiful and optimi tic meditation on the ri e of global fa ci m.
Shall We Go On i a ubtler record than Daniel’ previou olo effort . It trade the di tortion and hou e beat of previou material for omething hypnotic and healing. While there are plenty of heavily manipulated field recording and ample , a you’d find on a Matmo record, they err toward a more organic and ambient texture than Daniel’ other project .
The fir t track, “Shall,” et the tage with ome un ettling di onant drone , fu y ound cape , and a vocal chant that’ teetering dangerou ly on the edge of the uncanny valley. It’ an embodiment of what we’re leaving behind a the album kick into gear with the minimal new-age thump of “We.” A muted four-on-the-floor kick back clanking percu ion, wind weep , female vocal run , and a piano playing peekaboo. The ong gradually gather momentum, a the arrangement become bu ier and reache for the cloud .
“Go” follow the chilled-out dancefloor excur ion of “We” with a call to prayer, before leading into the ocean-front ambiance of “On,” with it gho tly choir of vocal , glitchy piano, and gently plucked ynth .
The e are all buildup, however, to what i arguably the album’ centerpiece, “Sinning.” Ab tract axophone bla t dance with bell and vibraphone a another imple four-on-the-floor kick inject the jam with undeniable groove.
I cho e that word “jam,” intentionally, too. Where previou Soft Pink Truth record and mo t of Matmo ’ catalog are built primarily from ample , Shall We Go On… lean heavily on live in trumentation and mu ician bouncing idea off each other in real time. Where Do You Party? Feel meticulou , Shall We Go On… feel pontaneou . It get caught up in it own celebration of human creativity and the power of art to heal.
“So” i the comedown after the ec tatic celebration of “Sinning,” with the axophone erving a our gateway to the back half of the album, which, like the re t of it, i a eamle mix. Their imple two-note drone become a recurring motif that other in trument build on top of, from the piano pedal that anchor the ambient chao of “That,” to the jazzy explo ion of “Grace,” that erupt from what ound u piciou ly like a car alarm having a nervou breakdown.
“May Increa e” pend it four-plu -minute runtime di a embling everything that “That” built up. All the chao , all the noi e, until it finally end with a deep exhale.
The Soft Pink Truth’ Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increa e? i available on Bandcamp and mo t major treaming platform , including YouTube Mu ic, Apple Mu ic, Spotify, and Deezer.
