London-based musician Matt Bartram is best known as the creative master mind behind the much-beloved Air Formation, who split in April 2011, to much dismay. However, anyone truly familiar with Matt and his work knew that this was certainly not the end of his musical endeavors.
Over the past 13 years, Matt has proven to be one of the most prolific, consistent and most respected songwriters of the second wave of shoegazing. Never the sort of musician to remain quiet, always feeling the need to keep moving forward, Matt has also released music under the project name The Static Silence (a collaboration with Rachel Goldstar of Experimental Aircraft, Eau Claire and All In The Golden Afternoon), as well as remixed tracks for Kontakte (incidentally, last week’s Shoegaze Spotlight focus, and a smashing remix, to boot) and Monster Movie (the enduring project from Christian Savill of Slowdive).
He’s also released several solo albums, recording these more experimental excursions at home. These include 2008’s highly lauded Arundel, which includes the breathtaking track “North Facing Window”, as well as it’s follow up, 2009’s Left to Memory, which features some of Matt’s most compelling work to date. Hypnotic, mesmerizing, uplifting, masterful use of texture – one could go on and on. Impeccably arranged and conceived, these LPS are triumphs for Bartram, and are the work of someone with a very clear vision. Both LPs were released on the record label Drifting Falling. You can likewise purchase both of these albums via DriftingFalling’s bandcamp page. You can stream an album preview of Matt’s newest solo effort, The Dreaming Invisible, via soundcloud.
Matt’s newest group project, You Walk Through Walls, formed with fellow Air Formation alumnus James Harrison (together with Harry Irving), was announced following the early 2011 news about the split of Air Formation, and Bartram fans have waited anxiously for a taste of what’s to come. Bartram’s jaw-dropping mastery of texture, melody and drive are sure to be present, as always. These newer recordings were spawned from eight tracks improvisations, and according to the band, one can expect intense melodic walls of noise with buried vocals, backed up by a driving rhythm section. Fans of A Place to Bury Strangers, Swervedriver, Dinosaur Jr, and Slowdive will find this of great interest. Their debut EPis set be released in the spring of 2012 on Club AC30, and the band is currently recording it this very moment, during January of 2012. Keep your eyes peeled for that release, and if you aren’t familiar with Matt Bartram’s impressive line of work, by all means, do so now. In the future, if not already, Matt Bartram will be lauded as a musician of great genius.
