Sounds Like…
Maths and Chaos Mechanised
The Review
Matmos recently reissued a digital version of their long out of print EP ‘For Alan Turing’. It is a hidden explosion of chaos and mathematics and according to the experimental duo, came about from a series of random events. How apt then, that the music itself embodies the events and the maths behind it all.
Across the EP, Matmos use various artefacts from Turing’s life to inspire them to create music. ‘Enigma Machine for Alan Turing’ is a wonderful explosion of MIDI information being processed into increasingly more chaotic noises. There is a beauty to the noise. It is always mechanical but feeling like each bar of music is becoming more untethered from reality. Notes bend and spasm. Radio waves tweet and moan. It feels like a maths equation growing exponentially – becoming wilder with each pass.
The same feeling comes from ‘Messages from the Unseen World’. Here, snippets of postcards from Alan Turing of the same name are read aloud as the particles and atmos of the song charge and soar. It straddles the vibe of creepy and alluring simultaneously and draws me in on every listen. In complete contrast ‘Cockles and Mussels’ loops violin, herdy-gurdy and vocal samples in a sumptuous and fluffy manner. There is a weight to the arrangement though as the vocals are so angelic that it gut punches you. There is also an unlisted track called ‘Worn Strummer’ which is a drone and trickle of guitar string picking.
As someone whom is relatively new to Matmos and their work, I’ve started here and absolutely fallen in love with their work. The details, the nuance and the juxtaposition of organic and tuned weirdness ticks all my boxes. I can’t wait to dive into their other releases. It feels like a great time to get onboard!
Recommended track: Engima Machine for Alan Turing
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Matmos - For Alan Turing
