Mat Riviere: Follow your Heart
Mat Riviere: Follow your Heart - new CD reviews on inthenews.co.uk
Also In The News
|
Alex Steger
Stade Francais prop David Attoub has lost his appeal against a 70-week ban for eye-gouging. |  |
Friday, 05, Mar 2010 03:16
By Matt Gardner.
Brainlove, out March 8th.
In a nutshell.
Broody, sad, unique electro that fails to hit the spot.
What's it all about?
This is the debut album from the Norwich-based solo artist and it aims to create "cinematic songs with minimal, rhythmic backing and intriguing lyrics sung in a distinctive, plaintive voice". It follows the decision to shift Mat Riviere away from Dreamtrak Records to sort out an EP, instead opting for a full recording under the Brainlove moniker.
Who's it by?
Mat Riviere's been working with the inner brains of Brainlove after being spotted by none other than John Brainlove himself. Consensus from Internet Forever and F*** Buttons (also on the label) confirmed the man's promotion to the fantastic indie label, though it follows a period of time where he endured stints with a number of other bands, to no avail. It's down to his "grouchy nature and inability to interact with other people effectively", according to the label itself, which is strange. Sometimes being honest works against artists, and I suppose you've got to admire the straight-up nature, though it will only compound the pain if the view is that his music is decidedly average.
What the others say
"Genius bleak pop." - NME
"Follow Your Heart is vaguely intriguing, but is too impenetrable to imagine its reach extending much further than masochistic fans of lo-fi art pop." - The Music Fix
So is it any good?
I'm quite the fan of what Brainlove Records is trying to achieve. That's not to say there's bias here, though; it's still a very distinct sound that the record label supports and it can genuinely go both ways. Luckily for them, Mat Riviere is quite the star... albeit a developing one with little scope for variety, from judging this release.
There's nothing much to smile about with Riviere's lyrics and approach to music. He's very much cornered the depressed sector of the market to the point where he seems to be surpassing Radiohead in the despondence stakes. Fair play to him really, though he doesn't make it too enjoyable as a result.
A lot of the songs are a little too high-concept for a debut album. Take My Sums And Add Them is a perfect example; short and sweet it ain't, even if it fulfils the first category. It seems to be a case of wowing the listener with a series of abstract sounds with supposedly meaningful and deep lyrics which do little more than confuse and, in some cases, just annoy.
While the style of his music is very much unique, there simply isn't the vocal variety available from a man whose rather exotic name belies his approach to singing. Many people have attempted the monotone approach in the past, though it never quite works as well as hoped. Mat Riviere is no exception, despite his best efforts.
Give it another release or two to break him in and he may get the hang of entertaining a wider audience as opposed to a tiny demographic seemingly hell-bent on self-destruction. Electro it ain't, at least in the embraceable sense.
I tried to love it and see the viewpoint of Brainlove Records on the whole, but it's nothing to match up to the likes of Kippi Kaninus or Pagan Wanderer Lu, who are on the same label. There's hope for him yet, just not with this release.
3/10