200 Words: MATT JENCIK
(In 200 Words, we highlight a new record we like a lot, via a 200-word review by Marc Masters and 200 words (or so) from the artist about whatever they choose. And sometimes we go extra-long on a record we extra-love...)
MATT JENCIK - Weird TimesĀ LP (Hands in the Dark)
It seems odd to say that any ambient music has guts, but thatās what I think about every time I listen to Matt Jencikās Weird Times. Itās not so much that this is visceral or brawny music; it is in places, though just as often itās dreamy, languid, and ethereal. But more that, thereās a confident core to Jencikās abstract essays that makes every track feel purposeful and driving and undeniably resolute. Weird Times is ambience with gravitational force, ghostly music with a hard skeleton, textural intricacy with elemental thrust.
Itās easy to isolate portions of Weird TimesĀ that demonstrate itsĀ particular power: the simple yet evergreen loops inĀ āGlass Blowā andĀ āThe Future Doorā, the cinematic sweeps buried beneath āDead Comet Flybyā, the mirrored ripples inĀ āDopplegangerā, the emotive waves inĀ āDeath Dreamā that recall the brain-freezing tones of the great Labradford, a band Iām rarely reminded of by music that they themselves didnāt make. But citing examples seems reductionist, because even the tracks that donāt have clear signifiers of Jencikās sure hands are filled with palpable momentum and centrifugal forward motion. If that suggests that Weird Times has a basis in science, that doesnāt mean its anywhere near clinical. Rather, Jencik has made poetic music that induces a chemical effect, moving neurons as efficiently as it stirs emotions.
Most of the albums I can count among my favorites sound simultaneously familiar and new, as if embracing the past history of a chosen style while at the same time moving that style forward into untrodden territory. I guess it has something to do with scope - with the way art can feel so expansive that it doesnāt just contain contradictions, it resolves them ā and the scope of Weird Times makes it my favorite record of the year so far.
ā Marc Masters
MATT JENCIK on Weird Times
The title for Weird TimesĀ came from a conversation I was having with someone about the current political climate. My response to whatever they were saying was something like āyeah, weird times man.ā I certainly never expected when I decided to use the title how prophetic it would turn out to be. I was pretty deep into another phase with ācosmic horrorā literature while making this record, I even named a song after the genre. Iāve always liked that H.P. Lovecraftās usage of the word āweirdā meant something more creepy, twisted or sinister, not how itās mostly used today, something thatās just different or somewhat curious. Everything thatās going on right now seems like an alternate universe, something that cosmic horror writers often write about in their stories. I thought using the Lovecraft version of the word āweirdā actually fit current events more so than the current usage.
The record is very inward. All of it was made on headphones and I didnāt hear it through speakers until it was finished. I guess you can say some of the existential dread crept in which made things get dark sometimes but I think there are hopeful tunes in there too.
Weird TimesĀ is out now on Hands in the Dark. Buy it here or here.
