Barbarossa - Elevator EP

Last year’s Bloodlines slipped down a treat, despite its enormous detraction from Mathé‘s acoustic path. We’ve been waiting eagerly for his next move, and he’s gladly shown his hand in the form of Elevators, a brand-spankin’ four-track EP that cannonballs into the pool of electronica. The title track’s been revealed already. It crackles with haphazard static, cluttered fuzz and ramshackle reverence; the beat slumps and crawls like a narcoleptic Active Child. It’s beaten, battle-weary and decrepit, but even in the face of such adversity, Mathé soldiers on to the end – and oh boy, the end. Strings are stuffed in, organs clank and drones buzz, engorging the track to post-rock levels of texture and noise. In the end however, Mathé succumbs, and drifts away into the Styx, his final epitaph a looping caveat: “Do you really want? Do you really want?”

It’s not all quite as heroically desperate as the title track. “Lupo’s Theme” is considerably more restrained. It’s not entirely clear who the titular Lupo is, but his/her/their/its theme bubbles, simmering like cool lava and frothing with organic beauty. Piano and howling squalls of synth permeate the layers of swaddled sound, but the title of overbearing overlord of the entire track is fought between dislocated vox and hip-hop beats. “No Glue” is an experimental affair, and between the thick electronic gloop, there’s bouts of dangerous silence waiting to strike. Mathé toys with dynamics and texture more so here than on any other track, and it works to create a fantastically interesting, if not immediately accessible cut.

Barbarossa’s change of timbre was a mammoth gamble, but thankfully it worked. Now that the initial shock and awe has worn off, he’s gallivanting further in those sonic kingdoms, exploring the fruits it has to offer, and while his themes and structural approach may remain quite folky (though it slips into post-rock too), nothing else implies his roots. It’ll be interesting to see where Mathé goes with this now, as he hints at both a direction with huge heart and soul, and one that lives in the avant-garde. He’s at a fork for now, and there’s no telling what he’ll do next – whether that be left, right, backwards or somewhere entirely different. It’s fascinating to watch him in action, however, and as long as he keeps shovelling out noise of this golden quality, then it’s tough to imagine anyone having any qualms about wherever he goes.