Drew Daniel is never short of concepts, invention or mischief. As one half of Matmos, with his life partner M.C. Schmidt, he has made some 10 official albums and many more collaborative ones – all pushing the boundaries of electronic bricolage and sound processing in the pursuit of extremely complex ideas about American history, plastic surgery, philosophy, queer identity and all that kind of stuff. Occasionally, as Soft Pink Truth, he has made more overtly dance records, but even these are heavily loaded with twisted intellect, including as they do an album of anarcho-punk covers and one of Satanic black metal remade electronically.
Now, ever perverse, he's responded to hard times with some of the most beautiful music he's ever made. “The election of Donald Trump,” he says, “made me feel very angry and sad, but I didn’t want to make 'angry white guy' music in a purely reactive mode.” With that in mind he set out to make SPT a highly collaborative project, with Colin Self, Angel Deradoorian, and Jana Hunter, as well as Schmidt, Koye Berry, Andrew Bernstein of Horse Lords, and John Berndt all contributing musically.
There are no conspicuous glitches here, no musique concrete clangs and parps, no tricksy irregular rhythms: everything is built around the steadiest of pulses, the richest of harmonies, the gentlest of synthesiser swooshes, the most thoughtfully rippled-out grand piano chords, the most communal of chants. It's essentially a single piece with gentle house rhythms rising up then falling into ambience, and meditative space building gradually into fierce minimalist post-classical intensity.
It would be possible to rattle off cool influences from NYC composers to Japanese deep house producers to Seventies Kosmische Germans all day long – but way more important than that is that this record succeeds on its own terms. It is a collective statement of calm determination, of clear intellect, and – palpably – of love. It would be tempting to say there's a religious feeling here, particularly given the title taken from Saint Paul, but that's not right: more, it homes in on many of the qualities of various musics of religious practice from first principles. It feels good and right and galvanising, and it's exactly the record we need right now.
Watch "We":
