Today marks the return of Matthew Dear as he shares the new single “Dizzy,” his first new music since 2018, now available on Ghostly International.
A night tune, marked by resonant, buzzing riffs and distorted, Depeche-esque kicks. When asked for more details on the track, he says: “There is a time of night, somewhere between midnight and dawn, when most people are asleep. That’s when I’ve made some of my favorite music. ‘Dizzy’ was born in that space. A space that lets me operate differently, from somewhere that feels dreamlike. For me, writing songs has to be a little out-of-body. I have to find a personality trait, or some part of my subconscious, and let that version of myself take the wheel for a while. When everyone else is asleep, it’s easier to do that.”
Further adding: “‘Dizzy’ is a love song from the middle of the night, set on a dark two-lane highway, told from the perspective of someone caught in the cycle of coming and going from the person they love. The smell of asphalt cooling under the moonlight hangs in otherwise empty air. It’s neither humid nor dry, hot nor cold, living nor dead.
Dizzy. In love.”
It’s been close to a decade since we’ve gotten a solid dose of Matthew Dear’s distinct avant-pop. “Dizzy” is his first proper release since 2018’s Bunny (which featured the breakout “Bad Ones,” a duet with Tegan and Sara). Since then, there was the twangy, free-wheeling “lost” album Preacher’s Sigh & Potion (among others that may never surface) and the stand-alone single “Talking Sleep,” but this year has seen a return to form with “New Drug”/“Head In The Clouds” on France’s Salon Records starting to do the rounds. “Dizzy” returns to Dear’s darker sound, a steely noir on the edges of electronic and rock that made his 2010 LP Black City an instant classic, garnering widespread acclaim including a Pitchfork Best New Music nod.
Dear burst onto the scene at the top of the millennium as a Detroit-based minimal techno wunderkind, one who could fuse his trusty baritone to slinky dance beats and carve a lane remixing everyone from Hot Chip to The xx to the Chemical Brothers to The Postal Service. Only he can slip back into those shoes, and with “Dizzy,” he does so deftly.
Written, produced, and performed by Matthew Dear. Mixed and mastered by Scott Lake at Subterranean Sound Studios. Photo credit: Chad Kamenshine.
Listen to ‘Dizzy’ out now on Ghostly International HERE
Tracklist
1. Matthew Dear – Dizzy
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