An exhibit of vulnerability and experimentation
Electronic music veteran and DJ Matthew Dear has been slowly morphing his micro-house sound into an art-pop aesthetic. On his new album Bunny, the production is all over the place, dominated by groovy beats and zany synth work. These instrumentals are often heavily layered and sometimes don’t leave enough room for the loud vocals, but mostly, this maximalist approach is executed pretty well by Matthew Dear. The lyrics are entertaining and the instrumentals make everything strange and groovy, and that’s not a bad vibe.
“Bummy’s Dream” is a calming and laid back house track. Dear’s vocal contribution is tasteful and compliments the lush, groovy instrumentation. “Calling” has Dear’s vocals on full display against synthpop background. It’s a nice step up in energy from the intro, but the beat is bland. “Can You Rush Them?” is a fun highlight, the beat is driving and the instrumentation is weird in the best way. “Echo” is probably going to put some people off with its ambient weirdness and Dear’s odd vocals, but it’s more experimental and poppy which is a good combo.
“What You Don’t Know” and “Modefinil Blue” have their moments, especially when the beat drops. These tracks have a lot of good production but in places, the mixes are cluttered and overbearing. “Electricity” shares this problem, and while this track is having an identity crisis, the songs that are more minimal and leave space for the vocals are more enjoyable and repayable.
“Before I Go” is psychedelic and relaxing, the lyrics are surface level but compliment the tight drum groove. “Bunny’s Interlude” is bizarre and ethereal, alien vocals and angelic voices pierce through the slow-moving atmospheric guitar. When things get slow and experimental, Mathew’s production and vocal effort really shine.
Bunny is a puzzling heap of cliché mixed with weird and it mostly works. Depending on your affinity for dramatic vocals and glitchy synth pop many people will probably find something to like about Bunny and hopefully, Dear keeps experimenting and finding the right musical balance that some of his music could benefit from.
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