Although Chicago‘s Matt Gold might be best known as a jazz guitarist, playing with Makaya McCraven and Jamila Woods, his solo work highlights both his experimental songwriting and credentials as a true multi-instrumentalist. A joint release between Ruination Record Co. and Flood Music, new record Midnight Choir is the latest example of his distinctive style. A combination of folkloric traditions and Gold’s own unique ear for melody, indebted to both classic rock and cosmic jazz though striking in its own idiosyncratic personality.
This is in no small part possible thanks to Matt Gold’s impressive instrumental vocabulary. Aside from guest appearances by JT Bates (drums), Anabel Hirano (vocals) and Bryan Doherty (electric bass) on specific tracks, Gold plays every instrument on Midnight Choir. A rich tapestry consisting of acoustic and electric guitars, electric and synth bass, Wurlitzer electric piano, harmonium and mellotron, as well as percussion, synths and drum machine. This range does more than add depth to Gold’s basic palette, lending a real flexibility to the record and unlocking the possibilities within his improvisational instincts. The multi-instrumental style not as some maximalist ostentation but rather a careful and considered versatility, always capable of pushing beyond simple mood and genre.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on ‘Wave Over Me’, the second single from Midnight Choir which we have the pleasure of sharing today. Opening with little more than gentle Wurlitzer and hushed vocals, the song meanders with reflective quietude for over two minutes, before rising with an improvisational flourish. Mellotron suddenly breaks the track’s rhythms, in turn conjuring drums into feverish bursts with an intuitive escalation that possesses a genuinely transportive effect. “I tend to write pretty slowly, so I was a little shocked when “Wave Over Me” hit me fast and strong,” Gold explains. “It was all there before I even had a chance for my critical mind to catch up at all, so the song continues to inhabit something of an otherworldly space for me.” As he continues:
I think the song captures a sensation of connectedness, of seeing yourself as beautifully small in the broader scope of time, of holding both the terrible and the sublime parts of everything at the same time, without distinction, together. Of course it’s hard to stay tapped into that perspective, but by writing this song while in that state, I feel like I’ve bottled just a little bit of that feeling, a way to return to it.
The peak of awareness might not last long, and by the final minute things recede back into the contemplative simplicity of the introduction. But, as Matt Gold suggests, there is the lingering sense something has changed. Perhaps not a lesson learned but an experience stored. An understanding of new sensations which exist somewhere above the ordinary. But just as importantly, he does not get lost in this otherworldly space. ‘Wave Over Me’ returns to earth changed but no less understated in its intentions, marking Gold not only as an ambitious artist but one in control of their virtuosity.
