Black City is Matthew Dear at his least penetrable and most alluring.
If the David Bowie comparisons were to continue, the album would place him somewhere in Lodger territory.
The dominance of inscrutable lyrics, peculiar characters and subjects, and alien rhythms makes the album more akin to the likes of Lodger's "African Night Flight," "Yassassin," and "Repetition" than the relatively straightforward "Boys Keep Swinging." Like Asa Breed, Dear's previous full-length, Black City is best described as avant pop, but there is an absence of lucidity, and no song sticks as quickly as "Don and Sherri" or "Deserter." It's all slippery, sleazy, murky sound-substance -- knotted rhythms with irregular gaits made all the more surreal by Dear's generally vague, suggestive lyrics and wordless, droning background vocals.
Depending on your taste, this will likely be instantly off-putting or progressively pleasurable.
Either way, it will probably make you feel like you could use a shower.
That Black City is Dear's most creative and individual album is not, however, up for debate.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HoneyMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 2 | I Can't FeelMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 04:18 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | Little People (Black City)Matthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 09:20 | 21 MB | 62 MB |
| 4 | SlowdanceMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 5 | Soil to SeedMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 02:28 | 5 MB | 16 MB |
| 6 | You Put a Smell on MeMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 05:04 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 7 | MonkeyMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | More SurgeryMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 05:30 | 12 MB | 30 MB |
| 9 | GemMatthew Dear | Matthew Dear | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 10 | Innh Dahh.flac | Matthew Dear | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 46 mins | 106 MB | |||||
| 46 mins | 294 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Calcutt | Artwork, Photography |
| 2 | Matthew Dear | Composer, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 3 | Paul Gold | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |