Review Summary: There comes a time in every girls life, when she knows she's not a little girl anymore.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Matthew Cutler, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Cutler has been producing in the independent electronic/hip hop scene since 2007. He was originally a member of a duo of similar genre called Kids In Tracksuits. When not working as Lone, Cutler can be found collaborating with Keaver And Brause in the group Kona Triangle.
Lemurian is an album full of instrumental tracks packed with luscious beats all topped off with stylistic ambient elements. The album starts off with ‘Koran Angel’, which subtly introduces the unique sound of Lone in an interlude form. As the album progresses, the sound of Lone becomes more clear and personal to the listener making it obvious that this isn’t your ordinary beat record. There's a certain personality that's carried along with this album and it's full of retro sound effects with space-like qualities that seem to mesh together perfectly. Cutler doesn’t stray too far with his track moods, which keeps a well-paced flow to the album. Many of the tracks contain similar qualities, such as reoccurring vibraphone synths, heavy reverberation, and offbeat drum samples. But this is not to suggest that Lone has a redundant sound by any means, he switches his effects up quite a bit offering a variety of reversed drumbeats, joyful synth pads and texturized atmospheres. It all offers an optimistic, almost ocean-like sound. Many fundamentals found in Lone's style; especially in Lemurian, have a similar organic feel reminiscent of artists such as Boards of Canada or Flying Lotus. Lemurian is a very relaxed album and has proven to be especially suitable for night listening, almost as if Cutler’s objective was to distract the listener from everyday stresses and to create an audible tranquility.
Much like space or a futuristic beach vacation, this record certainly evokes a surreal and pleasurable atmosphere. Often, I find myself coming back for a listen to re-visit its mellow and dream-like sentiment. Even nowadays where electronic music has continued to grow in popularity, Lemurian is guaranteed to offer a unique musical expression.
