(Matador/Remote Control)

Kickin' out the synth jams

For their seventh studio album, Musique Concrete/pop duo Matmos surmised that the optimal way to push the boundaries of modern music is to get a whole lot more, well, musical. Supreme Balloon is simultaneously more accessible and riskier than previous releases, with prior utilisation of found sounds and acoustic instrumentation cast aside entirely in favour of an array of vintage synthesisers (from off the shelf monophonic units to one of a kind modular synthesis units).

Supreme Balloon’s first four tracks are surprisingly squelchy; with Rainbow Flag, Polychords and Mister Mouth (featuring Sun Ra Arkestra’s Marshall Allen) sidestepping any comparison with inferior retro-futuristic synth jams through strong musicianship, innovative editing and respectful composition techniques.

From there, Supreme Balloon’s jaunty pop gems are supplanted by an emphasis on deep listening, time and space. The sparse Les Folies Francaises is arguably one of the dreamier and desperately isolating re-workings you’ll hear this year. Supreme Balloon’s centrepiece is its monstrous title track, a twenty-four minute all-consuming epic that explores the hitherto missing links between Cluster, Terry Riley and Ravi Shankar.

With Supreme Balloon, Matmos have again outdone themselves; and surprisingly have delivered one of the sharpest curveballs of their eclectic oeuvre yet.

****½

ANDREW TUTTLE

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