Yuta Matsumura - Red Ribbon

Quite the mystery around this one. No real official announcement of its release for some time (if still), no evidence of its existence on the label channels while others seemingly more in the know were harping on about it (is it even out yet?), and for Yuta Matsumura, a fairly substantial stylistic left turn. If you know of Matsumura, i'd assume it's probably via his involvement with Sydney punks Low Life and/or Orion, music that has very little bearing on what he's up to on Red Ribbon. His handful of connections with Altered State Tapes are probably more contextually relevant (a little less punk, a little more synthy/dreamy), but for the most part it seems Matsumura is casting his eyes our way over here to cursed blighty. He's chosen the good stuff to channel, artpop singing-era Eno (mostly Another Green World), the lonely bedroom auteurism of Patrik Fitzgerald's Gifts and Telegrams, and more recently, Jolly Discs moody nocturnal pop, especially the one record they worked on with Low Company, Special Occasion's The Word. I'm a huge acolyte for all those things, meaning it inevitable i'd be taken with this one. Matsumura shows a real off-centre pop sensibility, mired in a range of dubby, droll and sometimes ebullient sonics that's got me wondering why all the surrounding mystery? There's little hiding in the shadows here - this is music that openly reaches out to its audience, drawing it closely in, asking to be heard. And you'd do right to listen. Though it seems the only way you can do that right now is by buying the record, which is just as well for us as that's what we're flogging.