The debut album from London's
Barbarossa, 2013's
Bloodlines, is an atmospheric and yearning set of songs centered around singer/songwriter James Mathé. In the past, Mathé contributed to projects by such experimental folk-leaning artists as Fence Collective and Jose Gonzales. Essentially a solo project for Mathé,
Barbarossa picks up on the spare folk influence of his previous collaborations but expands the sound into a more electronic- and rock-oriented palette. Primarily a keyboardist, Mathé augments his various Casio synthesizer and electric guitar arrangements with contributions from drummer Ben Brown, guitarist Adam Beach, and bassist Adam Ithan. The resulting aesthetic is a minimalist pastiche of lo-fi, old-school keyboards, ambient guitar lines, and a mix of real and synthetic drum sounds. For his part, Mathé sings with a light, R&B-influenced croon that often floats into a pleasing falsetto lilt. He also favors epic, drawn out compositions that build with a slow, sustained drama. In that sense
Barbarossa's songs, like the gospel-influenced "Bloodline," the eerie midtempo anthem "Butterfly Plague," and the '60s-sounding ballad "Savious Self" have a slow-burn quality that touches upon subgenres like soul-influenced chillwave and neo-psychedelic pop. Imagine something along the lines of
the Flaming Lips'
Wayne Coyne fronting
the XX and you won’t be far off. Elsewhere, Mathé does raise the energy level somewhat with the bombastic and bluesy "Turbine," and the similarly passionate, slow-funk track "The Load." Although
Bloodlines takes its time to get under your skin, when it does, it sinks in deep. ~ Matt Collar