Brooklyn based producer Daniel Moore has just released a new album from his solo side-project Pure Matrix. Drain is a haunting 40 minutes of dark electronica that swirls and coalesces into shapes only vaguely recognizable. The opening “Impotence Reigns” is a downtempo dirge full of semi-opaque sound bubbles, seemingly always moving upwards towards bursting. At points an organ synthesizer joins the mix, adding to the Gothic-naval aesthetic that over-arches much of the album. “Blood Ritual” is more industrial, but with a similar looming static as the opener. Topping out at 14 minutes and 35 seconds, “Blood Ritual” is the longest song on the album and the most varied; certain movements span a five- or six-minute range and yet only take up a relatively conservative portion of the track. The closer, “Cold Clench”, is a trip through a polyphonic funhouse that when heard on good headphones or good speakers becomes somewhat disorienting, although not necessarily in an unpleasant manner.
Moore made the album “live”, which is to say not spliced together, according to his bandcamp using only “SAMPLER, ARP 2800, MOOG.” This shows, as there is a kineticism to Drain that prevents it from shifting into the baroque manufactured dysfunctionality of Daniel Lopatin’s work. This is a boon to the album, as much of its coherence comes from that “liveness” that surrounds the production. Not all dark-wave electronica is so listenable as Drain, a wholly enjoyable, if not downright pleasant 40 minutes.
You can stream Drain below. It is available on cassette via Primitive Languages.
