Experimental composer Drew Daniel has put together a gorgeous album that carries itself with the strength of a soft prayer, masterfully fusing jazz, deep house, and minimalism into an enormous, featherlight shield.
Last year, Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt celebrated 25 years of mad-genius musical experiments as Matmos with a Plastic Anniversary—an album recorded entirely using plastic. That’s how Matmos albums work; a concept that might seem silly or crass at first glance is backed by a mountain of research, executed with passion and, in that case, ornately recorded using a parade of PVC pipes, riot shields, and breast implants. Since 2001, Daniel’s side-project the Soft Pink Truth has run parallel to Matmos, applying similar twists to the dancefloor. Yet nothing in either project has presaged Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?, a cathartic, emotional windfall unlike anything Daniel has ever recorded.
Daniel thought hard about how to process the anger and despair born out of a worldwide resurgence of fascism and the election of Donald Trump. Instead of making reactive “angry white guy” music, he sought to make life-affirming, healing music founded in community. So he gathered his friends and family, including Schmidt, Horse Lords saxophonist Andrew Bernstein, percussionist Sarah Hennies, and a world-class trio of vocalists: Angel Deradoorian, Colin Self, and Lower Dens singer Jana Hunter. There’s no concept, no edgy sound-sources; its instruments are simply instruments, arranged with a small orchestra of collaborators who generate a huddled warmth against an increasingly cold, dark world. The resulting Shall We Go On Sinning carries itself with the strength of a soft prayer, masterfully fusing jazz, deep house, and minimalism into an enormous, featherlight shield.
Daniel built the album’s nine tracks to flow as two pieces, mixed seamlessly while using a bit of tape delay to unify each peak and valley. “Shall” opens the album with an invocation, as Deradoorian, Self, and Hunter create a choral round singing the titular question, itself an exasperated quote by Paul the Apostle from Romans 6:1. It acts as a focal point of tension, a summoning of negative energy that is exorcised as the chorus shifts on “We” to outward breaths and then long, silky sighs. A glowing synth loop razes any remaining darkness and as the beat drops in, “We” unfurls luxuriously into a deep house odyssey. It’s the first of many spontaneous surprises the album delivers. The rush of glockenspiel on “Go” provides a cleansing transition to the crashing waves of “On,” one of the album’s most soothing corners. Centered around repeating piano chords by pianist Koye Berry, the vocalists fuse into a singular force as Daniel manipulates the edges of the track with mercurial touches. It’s a soothing moment that sets up “Sinning,” a centerpiece for Bernstein and John Berndt’s dueling saxophones as bells, handclaps, and a pulsing bass gradually build up. Though its arrangement feels classical, “Sinning” flows like the sexy, sweaty peak of a house mix.
The second half—“So That Grace May Increase?”—offers its own momentous trajectory. Schmidt joins on piano, developing the central riff on the hypnotically swirling “So,” as horn loops, chanting voices, and percussion fold in on “That.” Daniel’s mixing here is phenomenal, giving each carefully crafted element—the forward swing of the percussion, the warmth of the brass, a garbled tape-looped voice—a moment to shine. Schmidt returns with a tip-toed piano solo on “Grace,” offering a delicate misdirection before the track suddenly explodes into a final, euphoric climax. The album rides this soul-lifting shock to its conclusion, a cathartic gift so breathtaking it rises to the occasion of this moment, that moment, seemingly any moment we have yet to face.
Daniel started the Soft Pink Truth on a dare from UK house legend Matthew Herbert. Matmos just had a breakthrough with the surgery-sampling A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure, while Herbert fused jazz, house, and the human form to create Bodily Functions, one of the most revered and intimate club records of all time. The dare suggests Herbert, who released the Soft Pink Truth’s first albums on his Soundslike label, heard something special in Daniel beyond even the visionary work of Matmos. Nearly 20 years later, that provocation has inspired what feels like a successor to Herbert’s own masterpiece while perfecting themes running throughout the Soft Pink Truth. On previous albums, Daniel reckoned with homophobia in black metal or celebrated punk’s queer history. Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? opens its scope to a harsh world where being gay and thriving is itself an act of defiance. It stares down an apocalypse and fights back with joy, hope, and human connection.
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