Instrumental prog-rock musician Matt Stevens is a man who has built a following his own way. Until recently, his entire back catalogue was available via bandcamp on a pay what you like basis, and even now, you can pick it up for just a few pounds. He worked Twitter the right way, following and actually interacting with people he thought would like his music, not just disappearing off in a huff if you didn't follow back straight away. After finding an initial success on his own, self releasing both his solo work, and that with his four piece band, The Fierce And The Dead, he has now started to take a more traditional path, The Fierce And The Dead's 2013 record Spooky Action the first of his work to be released by a label.
Lucid also treads that path, being put out on respected prog label Esoteric Antenna. How the record was released is not, however, the only path we can see Matt tread. This album is a continuation of the story of a man growing in skill and confidence with every single record. Opener Oxymoron is surprisingly bombastic for a man whose solo work is normally full of such subtlety and nuance. Rhythmically it's Matt Stevens, but in terms of tone and power, it recalls Mogwai's 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will'. The post rock references never really leave over the albums whole 40 minute running time, but everything else is added into the mix too- there's barely an instrumental genre not touched upon.
The Other Side breaks away from a gently strummed opening section to a jaunty eastern theme that proves prog doesn't need to resort to complex time signatures and musical complexity to surprise it's listener. Untitled has a riff Steve Albini would be proud of whilst at the other end of the spectrum KEA's plucked Spanish guitars recall lazy days by the pool. At near 12 minute's the album is anchored together by The Bridge. Like the album in microcosm in it's structure, it's initial threatening guitar melody gives way to an equally threateningly repetitive acoustic section, before that bombast returns to see the track out. Even if the track's title wasn't inspired by the Scandinavian crime show, it is its equal in bringing tension to the fore before the release of emotion.
Speaking of titles, the name 'Lucid' perhaps highlights the records only flaw. Meaning easily understood, completely intelligible and comprehensible (to quote dictionary.com), that's not a phrase that can be applied here. Listening to the album out of sequence to bolster notes for individual tracks whilst writing this has taken nothing away from them. Each of the eleven stand up, and some will be returned to again and again. The Bridge, The Ascent, Untitled all primes examples that a song doesn't have to be given words to tell a story. But perhaps some could have been saved for the next The Fierce and The Dead recordings. There are several tracks that sound more like that bands work than what is normally associated with Matt solo. That juxtaposition of the two sounds, and the varied instrumental genres showcased gives 'Lucid' a somewhat disjointed feel.
To focus on that would really be unfair though. Matt Stevens has crafted a record that few others could have. It's a work of massive ambition that nearly every step of the way is fulfilled. He says he took 3 years to release 'Lucid' as he wanted to make sure it was a big move on from Relic and Ghost, his previous two solo records, and that is without a flicker of doubt what he has achieved. With the Fierce And The Dead to fill in the gaps in the meantime, here's hoping he waits five years before the next one, because that could be scarily good.
'Lucid' is available now.
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