The all-singing, all-producing Matthew Dear has announced two new records for 2012, Headcage and Beams.
The former is a collaborative EP that sees Dear working alongside Fever Ray producers Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid, and The Drums’ frontman Jonathan Pierce, while Beams is the full-length follow up to Dear’s acclaimed last album, Black City. As Dear explained to FACT over email, it’s an album with “a bit more hopefulness” than his past work.
The vocals on ‘Headcage’ are much lower than we’re used to from Matthew Dear – they could almost have been pitched down. Is there a reason for this vocal change, and is it something we’ll see more of on your new material?
“In retrospect, I don’t think it was intentional. Sometimes you just feel a bit lower than normal, and that day in the studio must have reflected that. The lyrics are quite dreamscape, and I think I had Lennon’s ‘Come Together’ floating around in my head. You know, “feet, down below his knees” kind of a feel. Lyrically, I wanted to just rattle off a bunch of one-liners like that, that would make sense only as a group. Also, I love the intimacy of J.J. Cale’s vocal delivery and was aiming for something similar. I must have been very close to the microphone for this one.
“In terms of the rest of the songs on Beams, yes, there will be some moments like this. However, I don’t hear the vocals as being drastically different than my previous records. Being said, I am living in all this, and cannot always see outside of myself. You’ll be the judge.”
How did the collaborations on the Headcage EP happen? Was it your intention from the start to release a collaboration-heavy record?
“I had toyed around with doing an all collaborations record at some point, but the momentum of Black City, and my live band’s growth simply didn’t allow for it. It would have been a step away from that progression, and honestly too confusing for anyone paying attention to what I am doing. The EP has the only two collaborations from this cycle. Van Rivers and Subliminal Kid took my working version of ‘Headcage’ to the next level by adding far more creative drum programming and some atmospheric synth elements. The core structure of my song and its melodic elements remain. They just strengthened it, something akin to dipping an object in a high gloss coating.
“Johnny Pierce’s contribution to ‘In The Middle (I Met You There)’ was far different. I had the song at the forefront of my works-in-progress and had even done a version where I sang the verses. Luckily I caught him on some time off in New York, and he came over to just try anything. I showed him that song, and he decided it was the one to try. He beautifully re-sang my verses, and then we collaboratively came up with an extension of the song, in which he wrote the ending verse. We cranked it all out in a few hours, and he went on his way. I spent about 2 more weeks working on the arrangement and mix, and finally ended up with the finished product for the final mixing session.”
What can we expect from Beams, your new album? And what’s the relationship between Beams and Headcage?
“What’s primarily different about Beams is that I mixed it at Rare Book Room Studios in Brooklyn. It was the first time I had taken apart my songs, and worked with someone on mixing them. Nicholas Vernhes brought new life to a lot of material I had written off as finished. He really opened a lot of the mixes up, and allowed for the music to breathe. We did two, two week sessions over the summer of 2011 and had the album ready for mastering by fall 2011.
“‘Headcage’ is on Beams. That’s about it for the relationship.”
There were notable lyrical themes to your last album – what subjects have you found cropping in Beams particularly?
“There is a far more optimistic tone to Beams. The lyrics still reflect personal struggle and self-realization, but with a bit more hopefulness than ever before.”
New album aside, what else have you been up to?
“Stretching. I can touch my toes on a regular basis now. I’ve also been eating spoonfuls of honey and drinking far too much coffee. I am also planning my escape into the woods.”