“Bewitching” is the only word we could come up with to describe
“Seraphastra” when we first heard it in 2013. Originally released on an
extremely limited cassette by the Digitalis label, the album makes a
welcome debut to the vinyl format. Matchess is the solo project of
Whitney Johnson, singer & keyboardist for Chicago band Verma, whose
banshee-like wail & synth squall can be heard over the band’s more
recent Trouble In Mind releases “Coltan” & “Sunrunner” but Johnson’s
work as Matchess is a different beast all together. Foregoing her
band’s skyward arching krautrock jams for a more subtle, ‘Radiophonic’
approach, “Seraphastra”s alien drones & rhythmic pulse are grounded
in the mystic & cosmic efflivium of modern spiritual synth music.
Matchess – Somnaphoria (2015)
“Bewitching” is the only word we could come up with to describe
“Seraphastra” when we first heard it in 2013. Originally released on an
extremely limited cassette by the Digitalis label, the album makes a
welcome debut to the vinyl format. Matchess is the solo project of
Whitney Johnson, singer & keyboardist for Chicago band Verma, whose
banshee-like wail & synth squall can be heard over the band’s more
recent Trouble In Mind releases “Coltan” & “Sunrunner” but Johnson’s
work as Matchess is a different beast all together. Foregoing her
band’s skyward arching krautrock jams for a more subtle, ‘Radiophonic’
approach, “Seraphastra”s alien drones & rhythmic pulse are grounded
in the mystic & cosmic efflivium of modern spiritual synth music.
