Lone
Levitate
Release Date: Jun 10, 2016
Genre(s): Electronic, Pop/Rock
Record label: R&S
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Album Review: Levitate by Lone
Great, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
It takes about two seconds for ‘Alpha Wheel’ to set the musical stall for Matt Lone Cutler’s 6th album ‘Levitate’: the d ‘n’ b-inspired breakbeats crunch, the distinctive Lone synths start to pop as light as air and the mood can immediately be summed up as Hardcore Uproar 1990. ‘Back Tail Was Heavy’ makes a similar point, but brings a tougher, jagged rave edge: it’s way more bruising (and arguably more thrilling) than previous work. “After making a record as mellow as ‘Reality Testing’ it was important not to repeat myself - I wanted it to be an intense blast,” says Matt, and on sublime 6AM instrumental ‘The Morning Birds’ and the 808 State-scaling ‘Vapour Trail’ he sounds more vital than ever.
Based on rating 7.6/10
At this point, we probably have enough albums dedicated to rave nostalgia. And the British producer Matt Cutler should feel OK about that, because as Lone, he's responsible for quite a few of them. His new one, Levitate doesn't really break any new ground; it reprises ideas (and in some cases, specific synthesizer patches) that he has been using since 2010's Emerald Fantasy Tracks.
Based on rating 7/10
Left field house producer Matt Cutler creates daybreaking electronic tracks that refuse to deliver ribbon-tied, one-dimensional emotional experiences. Across his discography, which reaches back to 2008’s hip-hop fantasia Lemurian, there’s no quaking-with-passion romantic panegyric like Caribou’s “Our Love”. There’s no brainless stadium-flooding romp like Hudson Mohawke’s “Chimes” or cult-hop midnight show like Shlomo’s “Apathy”.
Based on rating 3.5/5
Each of Matt Cutler's Lone albums has been considerably different from the last, but he's developed such a signature musical vocabulary that it's easy to blur them together. 2010's Emerald Fantasy Tracks first established his retro rave fixation, before 2012's Galaxy Gardens rendered it as dazzling 3D, taking the past way into the future. Reality Testing brought Cutler back to his hip-hop roots in 2014, applying his neon and fibreglass materials to a different set of structures.
Based on rating 7/10
Lone, a.k.a. Matt Cutler, returns after a two-year absence to bring us his sixth album, Levitate. Strangely though, it doesn't even feel like Lone has been around for six albums; it still feels like he's only recently arrived on the scene.Part of this may be due to the fact that his sound is such a timeless blend of old school aesthetics and hyper-coloured brilliance.
'Levitate'
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