There’s a certain freshness and elegance in ‘Specific Gravity’; yes it’s built on cinematic orchestral tones, but it is much more than that. By incorporating a healthy amount of electronic and avant-garde textures, Ian Mathias-Baker crafts a record that’s crepuscular, ever-changing and truly hard to predict. Waving in and out of intense sections and spectacular crescendo, ‘Specific Gravity’ also assigns big importance to silence and pauses, using them to evoke an overwhelming sense of melancholia and a certain nostalgic flair.
‘Mythic Texts’ is the main piece in the album, divided into four movements. ‘Man Mowing the Lawn Across The Way From Me’ shuffles the sonic panorama by offering a decisively more ambient-like experience, empowering a minimal grand piano, spoken words and further electronic elements. It’s here that we can easily get a glimpse of the main inspiration behind the album.
As Mathias-Baker explains: “It was inspired by the works of T. S. Eliot and Charles Bukowski”. Delving into a series of poems and tales and mirroring them in sonic form, Ian manages to open the floodgates of artistic glory once again, in what’s a stunning display of holistic creativity. You can find out more about the theme behind ‘Specific Gravity’ in this essay.
Recommended! Discover ‘Specific Gravity’ on Spotify:
