Long-running electronic duo Matmos have long built their albums out of playful concepts. Their most recent LP, for instance, is 2023's Return To Archive, which is built entirely from samples of non-musical sounds drawn from the Smithsonian's Folkways archives. Matmos' next record is their metal album -- as in, their album recorded entirely with metallic objects.
In a couple of months, Matmos will release Metallic Life Review, which features Owen Gardner on glockenspiel, Thor Harris on drumming, and Jason Willett on guitar. It's also got Jeff Carey on aluminum cans, which, per a press release, "were melted, molded into custom aluminum rods, and then bowed and struck." Lead single "Changing States" is a prettily pinging instrumental that includes sound sampled from knives, trowels, screws, tuning forks, cast aluminum rods, metal bowls, and a Panettone box. It's dedicated to the late pedal steel experimentalist Susan Alcorn, who pasedd away in January and who plays on the track. Here's what Drew Daniel says about it:
We have the sounds of plucking the metallic gates around a tomb recorded in an underground crypt, the sound of cemetery gates, and the death of Susan Alcorn and the death of David Lynch occurred as we completed the album. We had already mixed the music with Susan before she passed, and we dedicate "Changing States" to her. David Lynch’s way of being an American artist was inspiring to us, and we dedicated "The Chrome Reflects Our Image" to him.
Below, check out "Changing States" and the Metallic Life Review tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Norway Doorway"
02 "The Rust Belt"
03 "Changing States"
04 "Steel Tongues"
05 "The Chrome Reflects Our Image"
06 "Metallic Life Review"
Metallic Life Review is out 6/20 on Thrill Jockey.
