Balancing atmospheric pop haze with muscular hip-hop grooves, Yung Matthew’s “Amida” finds producer Matthew Borland at his most direct and accessible. It’s a track that doesn’t so much smother your senses as it latches onto your consciousness and nestles in comfortably, enveloping you in a warm ocean of hardscrabble beats, rippling synths, and warped bass swells. Structurally, it’s a soundscape divided into two sections. First there’s the propulsive midnight ambiance of the opening instrumental which eventually fades into a clattering, industrialized backdrop for DYVER’s raised-fist poetics. It’s an impressive confluence of sounds, one that reflects divergent sides of Borland’s personality — the dreamy explorer and the hard-nosed activist.
Created by Colin Mulligan, the accompanying visuals help accentuate those contrasting aesthetics by placing them in similar environments and letting the music dictate the narrative. The nostalgic 8-bit titles and stuttering day-glo graphics maintain a meditative consistency throughout, locking the viewer in a trance as animated soundwaves peak and recede and a peach-colored sun slowly streaks across the sky again and again. We could also get into the existential implications of the “press start” command which appears repeatedly through the clip, but this one’s best when left to your own interpretations. Watch it above.
“Amida” is taken from Yung Matthew’s Auroras (borealis), released last May and available for streaming and download via Bandcamp.
More Info
Bandcamp: yungmatthew.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @TheyungMatthew
SoundCloud: @theyungmatthew
Twitter: @TheyungMatthew