Oh, woe is bot. Though Matthew Ingram has some good ideas here, he doesn’t quite put them together into a satisfying way the same way “The Focus Groups” does. Nonetheless, it doesn’t mean the album (or EP, since it is only 20 minutes) lacks any sort of interesting detail. Matthew’s focus is heavy enough to sort of make up for this shortfall.
For one, he uses precious few elements. All of the samples are purely British in origin. His guitar is reconfigured around these samples. I personally am a bit of an Anglophile, so the samples win me over a bit. Though I know he works in a fragmented framework, I feel the fragments feel a bit too jagged. Other ‘hauntology’ or whatever you want to call them groups work since they blur the lines. His transitions are too abrupt a lot of the time. “The Hook” sort of is a prime example of this problem.
What he really succeeds at are the longer, more fully-formed songs. Fragments escape him, but a song with a complete melody and chorus work best for him. Towards the end of this very short collection of songs, I’m shown some of his true capabilities. “Goat’s Wool” sounds transported from some early Smiths’ demo. In other words, it is great.
This is sort of a hit-and-miss EP. Personally, I am interested. The parts that work intrigue me and I hope he continues this project. Maybe a later release will come along that will convert me a bit more.