Last Updated on March 22, 2022, 7:40 PM | Published: March 22, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — There’s a fragile, delicate balance always at play in ambient music.
By nature, and by its own (admittedly loose) definition, “ambient” should be environmental. It’s meant to become a part of your surroundings and to creep in and out of your ears and your mind so easily and fluidly that you hardly notice. It’s meant to become the sound of a space, not just sound in a space. Add a beat that’s too engaging or a melody or hook that’s too attention-grabbing and now the listener is tuned into the music. It’s no longer part of the ambience of the room. Now it’s just a song.
But is there a middle ground? Is there a space between pure, environmental ambience and structured, solidified songs and melodies?
OKC’s Matt Lowery is determined to find out.
His newest full-length album, appropriately titled “Waking,” is the musical equivalent of dozing in and out of consciousness, attempting to will yourself awake before sliding back into nebulous, hazy dreams, only to be stirred again by something concrete and tangible in the waking world.
Each track establishes its own space and its own environment, often with far-off sounds, blips, and not-quite-recognizable instrumentation, before eventually growing, sometimes bursting, into a foot-tappable beat or a catchy, melodic earworm. These moments of “song” remain fleeting, however, retreating back into whatever ether they sprang from, like falling back to sleep no matter how hard you try to stay awake.
“’Waking’ is, in a lot of ways, my attempt to make very structured music with very esoteric, free-form tools,” Lowery told me. “There’s a beauty to that kind of juxtaposition that I find attractive.”
Those esoteric tools range from complex, modular synthesizers to handmade instruments and what he calls “alternative processing methods.”
“The weirder the sound source,” he said, “the more interested I was in it.”
While Lowery found plenty of inspiration in the equipment and gear around him, his most direct influences were less musical and more conceptual and even cinematic.
“Innumerable musical influences likely filtered into my unconscious mind and wormed their way out into my music, but I try not to think too much about that,” he explained. “The biggest influence on this record was a poem called ‘Aubade’ by Philip Larkin. Without getting too far into the weeds, the poem is about inevitability, or that’s my take anyway. So I was thinking and writing about the things that are, or feel, unavoidable in life, both large and small. Tarkovkey’s film ‘Stalker’ was very important to me during this time as well.”
Unsurprising, then, that the track on the album named for Larkin’s poem, “Aubade,” serves as something of a centerpiece both musically and conceptually. As the track begins to pulse and gradually reveal itself, it feels like a weight lifting and rising, finally resolving into one of the most structurally and melodically satisfying moments on the record.
Much of that is also attributable to the epic, climbing piano line throughout, performed by collaborator Nick Angeloni under the name n-So.
“Nick is one of the most original and interesting composers I’ve ever listened to,” Lowery said. “His album ‘A Stroke of Blue’ is a modern classic. I was so thrilled that he played piano on the track.”
Angeloni is just one of a number of friends and collaborators that helped Lowery to realize “Waking,” both by performing on the album and with work behind the scenes producing or even just offering advice.
“Joshua Van Tassel is a wonderfully talented producer and drummer,” Lowery said of the artist featured on the track “Transit.” “We’ve worked together a number of times now. The guy just oozes taste, and makes everything that he touches better.”
Most notably for fans of left-field electronic music, “Waking” also had some valuable input from Nick Sanborn, one half of internationally beloved and Grammy-nominated electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso.
“Nick was kind enough to listen to some early mixes,” Lowery said. “He gave me some incredibly important advice and feedback, and I don’t think the record would have come together the way it did without his thoughts.”
While Lowery’s last album, 2019’s “Voyager,” was the success that put him firmly on the map and in the minds of audiences around the country, it was decidedly more song-oriented and musically dense, running close to an hour and featuring guitar layers and crashing acoustic drums.
This time around, Lowery clearly sought to embrace more mystery and texture in the music, but also to focus on brevity.
“At one point, the shoebox of songs that became ‘Waking’ was about an hour and a half of material and, eventually, I decided that I wanted this project to feel very tight,” he said. “I love and listen to a lot of long, meandering music, so keeping things brief felt like a fun game.”
“Waking” is out now thanks to Mystery Circles Records, online on all streaming services and mattlowery.bandcamp.com. Visit mattlowery.com and follow Lowery on Instagram @mattlowery.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
