Matthew Dear Plays at the Paradise Rock Club

Upon my arrival to the Paradise Rock Club here in Boston, Matthew Dear was just taking the stage. My attention was immediately drawn to their live set up which was covered in various flower bouquets and was set up for four members, Matthew Dear with all sorts of gadgets, instruments and synths at his disposal, a bassist, a drummer, and a guitarist (who also sang and played percussion). Dear let out a few vocals which he filtered and looped as he pleased to create static soundscapes before and in between songs. What amazed me the most was before they would jump into their song, the band would start off tempo with their pre-recorded intro and the tempos would gradually merge towards each other until they met with perfect timing. Once these tempos met, the band (who showed great stage presence despite the moderately sized crowd) would bounce effortlessly into each of Dear’s songs.

The whole performance was intimate and flawless. The best word I could use to describe it all around is refreshing. Dear has found an amazing and unique common ground between the live and the electronic. His song “Earthworms” off of his new album this August was among his most successful. On the recording, Dear layers his voice quite a bit and despite that fact, the live version still did it great justice and added something new and excited to the track which was not captured in his release. Dear is currently signed to Ghostly International, one of my favorite labels who featured both amazing musicians and artists of all kinds of caliber and I highly suggest everyone give their website Ghostly.com at shot and keep an eye out for Dear’s increasing popularity!

By Cameron Holbrook

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