Hailing from Canada, Matt Nish-Lapidus has been making music since early 2000’s. With a hiatus between ‘Timbre’, released in 2000 and ‘Music For Airplanes’ from 2016, he got back and launched a series of albums. L5 being his newest one, following last year’s ‘Missed Month’.
It’s a sci-fi influenced work that feels mechanical, yet alive. Full of swamp-emerging creatures and hypnotizing sounds, as in the opener ‘Start’ or ‘Barycenter’, which seems to have a mid-90s experimental influence, same as the rhythmic ‘Trust’. ‘Practice’ follows the previous tune, and it works as a sketchy interlude, similar to what happens on the layered and intense ‘Wise’. Some tracks take time to form, like ‘Ultralight’ or the experimental post-rave approach on ‘Point’, with beats that come from beyond.
The esoteric ‘Various Purposes’ and the valvular ‘Different Object’ are two highlights of the LP, and that wasn’t an easy decision, but the exploration of timbres, sub-bass and tempos on the first one and the stretched delicacy on the second made our point. Audiophiles will enjoy those. An analog pattern going through effects tries to reach a new level of perception through repetition and ends the journey.
L5 is a work of raw tones communicating with shimmering yet soft backgrounds, unwarped beats going through the process of synchronization, textures that fade and turn blurry, hints of metallic sounds emerging from the background, setting their own atmosphere, and an artist that sounds really promising if he aims to follow this exploratory path. The fact that this will be released on a cassette just adds a plus for those of us with an unexplainable taste.
