A year after the release of her astonishing sophomore LP
Somnaphoria,
Matchess (Chicago-based musician
Whitney Johnson) returned with another collection of haunting, otherworldly soundscapes.
The Rafter seems slightly darker, sadder, and more alien than her first two albums. Her stunning viola playing is still present, but here it's not quite as upfront.
Somnaphoria featured some truly stirring melodies which easily took hold of the listener's attention. Here, the viola is more distant and abstract, imitating bird shrieks on the album's title track. Likewise, while the drum machine provided a constant puttering pulsation on the last album, somewhat akin to a submerged
Suicide, here the rhythms are more forceful, scraping and dragging the music along. On standout "The Fog," the beats sound distorted enough to almost resemble gabber kicks.
Johnson's vocals are glazed with a frosty echo, transforming them into subconscious murmurings rather than communicating easily discernible messages. "The Wind" features birds cawing beneath the rushing wind sounds, shivering vocals, and cascading keyboards. The LP concludes with "Aweh," a deeply moving piece consisting of swirling strings and crying vocals over a trudging rhythm.
The Rafter seems a bit more affected by tragedy than previous
Matchess works, and while it's a slightly more challenging listen, it's every bit as rewarding and fascinating. ~ Paul Simpson