MATTHEW DEAR - Beams

There were high expectations for the comeback of Matthew Dear, the man behind the little electro-pop gem with black shades that was "Black City", released more than two years ago now.

Dear has spent a long time touring, playing packed, celebrated dj sets for the globe's hip indie crowds, lavished with praise by both the mainstream and specialist press, including America's most prestigious outlets (Rolling Stone, NME, Spin, even the NY Times). On his fifth outing, though, the Detroit native — from a city whose techno tradition barely needs the word "seminal" to describe it — surprisingly fails to live up to the hype, delivering a record that seems to aim squarely at mere adequacy and the bare minimum.

Without beating around the bush, "Beams" is an album that seems to run on autopilot, stringing together beats, grooves and synths (never so listless) without landing a single standout track, a far cry from the strength and subtly erotic allure of "Black City". Tracks like "Her Fantasy", "Headcage" and "Up & Out" can still work as wallpaper-friendly entertaining music escorted by generous amounts of alcohol, but they inevitably fall apart the moment you actually prick up your ears to make sense of what's coming out of the speakers.

The record ticks off tracks that are now flashy, now more laid-back, running mostly on empty, and attempts a couple of variations on the theme (the minimal "Shake Me", the almost post-punk bassline of "Earthforms") without managing them convincingly, inevitably ending up tedious.

Dear, in short, resurfaces with a record that feels tired and slapdash, well below his potential, one that barely clears the threshold of listenability.

All that's left, then, is to postpone our appointment with the American dj to his next work, hoping for renewed vitality and sensual charge.

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17/08/2012