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Mat Riviere

Follow Your Heart

Label: Brainlove

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"The Rivière du Mât is a river on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion". Well according to Wikipedia. In contrast, Mat 'The River' Riviere has probably never been to Réunion. It’s a beautiful place, and technically a region of France. If he had been, he wouldn’t be so damn gloomy. Thank God for us he is.

Hailing from the more glamorous climes of Norwich…ahem…having broken through on Howlback Hum's Norwich based compiliation…ok so there isn't a lot of previous here but this is why you should buy this. This guys so damn indie it hurts.

By indie I mean independent. Experimental, independent, unlikely to be picked up by Virgin or Columbia, independent. Shoe gazing experiments with synths, some dubious singing, and bedroom-style production. Independant.

Now normally all of the above spells disaster. However, The River has a knack here of hanging looped synths off imaginary hooks with some skill. For example, 'Slugs and The Dust' starts and ends with the same 2-second casio-alike refrain. Mat then twists and turns acoustic guitars and beautiful pianos around this structure to create a two-minute wonder that stands out on the record.

However, Follow Your Heart really shines when el río drops the endless electronic loops for guitar and piano on 'Out of 3'. Ok, so still looped but nevertheless; he shifts from the shadow of Deerhoof to bask in the glory of Graham Coxon. Similarly, 'Castroreale' benefits immensely from the lack of abrasive sounds that somewhat overwhelm other tracks. In sounding like the Ralfe Band's younger brother, Riviere once again skilfully negotiates the slippery slope of experimentation without slipping into the pool of unlistenability. Not actually a word but you get the point.

If you do buy this album then you won't go far wrong if you do it with an open mind. Not all the experiments work, at least not for this listener. Yet when it works, it works so well that, you know he has talent. We can but hope he has enough backing to not give up. His next album? Now that'll be a corker from start to finish. - Matthew Coxon.