The prelude to
Matthew Dear's
Beams is a four-track EP that includes some production input from Stockholm producers
Van Rivers and
the Subliminal Kid (
Fever Ray,
Glasser,
Blonde Redhead) and a duet with Brooklyn-based vocalist
Jonny Pierce (of
the Drums, a band whose "Me and the Moon" was remixed by
Dear). The lead track and "In the Middle (I Met You There)" are two of
Dear's sharper avant-pop songs, fluid but rustling, like a fair portion of his best work, but relatively lucid and inviting. The back half, "Street Song" and "Around a Fountain," are elusive sketch-like tracks with slightly unsettling ambience.