Posted by The shores of Margate which protrude out into the cold North Sea may not be everyone’s quintessential getaway destination. But for Barbarossa, this has been the perfect place for him to reconnect with the visceral forces of nature and produce one of his warmest sounding albums yet. In fact, you’ll most likely find Barbarossa, aka James Mathé, embracing Kent’s inky black waters most days – rain or shine – to relieve from the stresses of the modern world and ponder life’s big questions.
“This was probably the most stress-free record to date,” mentions Mathé in a press release, who enlisted the help of producer du jour Ghost Culture (Kelly Lee Owens, Daniel Avery, Falle Nioke) for his sixth studio album ‘Love Here Listen’. “We really understand each other and I trust him totally,” Mathé continues. “He lives five minutes’ walk along the seafront from me. We even jumped in the sea a couple of times after lunch.”
From the album’s offset, you get the feeling those lunch-time seaside swims will permeate throughout and ‘Always Free’ immediately sets a tone of acceptance with opening lyrics, “don’t be alarmed by the waves in the water.” ‘Iris2Iris’ follows suit by talking about spending more of life with your eyes open before ‘Recliner’ harnesses sea-shell-esque reverberations on synths and vocals to create dreamy, beach washed soundscapes that tinge with a Tame Impala aura.
A limited range of vintage synths were utilised for much of ‘Love Here Listen’ with the recordings bounced down to Mathé’s Fostex R8 reel to reel to give it that homely, almost sand grainy sound. “It was so much fun just messing around with synth arps,” says Mathé, and it’s with these distinct sonic textures that Ghost Culture makes his boldest mark on the record – much like he does throughout KLO’s outstanding ‘Inner Song’.
The leading synth lines on ‘Long Wave’ emulate the kind of spacey underwater vibrations that would hover above a paradisial coral reef. ‘Make It Through’ tackles the feelings of being overwhelmed by life’s challenges and being thankful for support systems – both physical and metaphysical – around you before the album’s title track concludes proceedings with further Kevin Parker drenched vocals and atmospheric sonic surroundings which build with positivity incrementally.
‘Love Here Listen’ infuses Margate’s natural elements of sand, sea and plenty of fresh air to make a record that’s delectably warm, aware, accepting, and full of hope.
7/10
Words: Jamie Wilde
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