The third recording from Britain's James Mathé (aka Barbarossa), 2018's Lier, is a deeply ruminative and subdued album, rife with sustained, atmospheric pathos. Easily the singer/songwriter's most diffuse and perhaps most personal production, the album is his first since relocating from London to the Kent seaside town of Margate. It's also his first album since becoming a father. Both of these facts counterbalance each other throughout Lier, an album of deep emotional weight, with a sound that evokes Margate's languid coastal climate. Helping Mathé to achieve this tactile balance is producer James Greenwood (aka Ghost Culture) and drummer Joel Wästberg. Together, they frame Mathé's intimate croon with shimmering synths and muted, vintage-sounding drum machines as well as more organic instruments like Wurlitzer organ, piano, and bass guitar. While admittedly not a huge transition from his past work, there is a sense of change on Lier. Some of that change is reflected in Mathé's move to Margate, where he recorded much of the album. There's also a sense on the album that, as a first-time father, Mathé is carrying some worry about bringing a child into a world that can often feel unpredictable and tumultuous. It's a sound best represented on the hooky, mid-album anthem "Don't Enter Fear." Grounded by a supple organ line and Wästberg's tightly rendered snare beat, Mathé sings "What is happening here?/Are we all about to enter fear?/Are we holding in our hands the last chance?" That the song then opens up into a vibrantly melodic, uplifting chorus speaks to Mathé's conflicted emotional state. It's a contrast he explores throughout much of the album, as on the '70s ELO-inflected "Ancient Light" and yearning, Casio keyboard-accented "Aluminium Skies," in which he croons "No one wants to be lonely, but you." ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

1		Cyclone
2		Aluminium Skies
3		Broken Beauty
4		Griptide
5		Don't Enter Fear
6		Ancient Light
7		Thickening Air
8		Lier
9		Shells
10		Feel My Sins