Barbarossa’s got some flavor. And yes, a red beard. This particular beard is the musical moniker of Londoner James Mathé, who released an acoustic debut back in 2008, toured as part of the live band with Jose Gonzalez (who he sounds strikingly similar to vocally), and is now releasing his second full length, Bloodlines. On this latest effort, Mathé works with several different musical angles, but none of them are acoustic. He went on an analog synth adventure, explored all the wavering organ voices of old Casios, and punched them with drum beats that when mixed with his mellow and melodic vocals, make him sound something like if Jose Gonzales had been in Jurassic 5. Kind of weird sometimes, pretty cool other times.
Barbarossa – Turbine from memphis industries on Vimeo.
Organ opiate opener “Bloodline” starts it off strong, with a beautifully solemn church feel. This is immediately turned around with the more beat-heavy single “Turbine,” with much flavor in that staccato vocal melody, and then the phrasing of the words “your head” being repeated over percussive repetition of cymbal crashes. The cosmic disco electro soul of “Pagliaccio” makes it a total jam, the whole reason it had to be on our Mixtape 33. It’s a finger snapper and shoulder mover, very similar to what AM & Shawn Lee are doing, which is still something I want to listen to after Daft Punk feels way too played out these past couple months.
That hallowed organ sound keeps creeping back in, revealing itself to be a recurring theme across the album, but in general it’s the more beats the better that makes the good tunes stand out. The flavor dips in places, and becomes slightly bland in comparison, when songs start to get too mired in minimal balladry to be as memorable after they’re over. “Butterfly Plague” sounds like a strange R&B Beetlejuice number, and the middle of the album starts to feel like a overdramatic, yet incredibly gentle intermission with all that sensitive sweetness before first single “The Load” kicks it over to the darker side of the street with harder beats and a more brusque synth line. After this the energy dips again, and the last songs feel like confessions, but also contain important revelations that everyone should probably have at some point in their life. Although the flavor factor isn’t completely consistent on Bloodlines, Barbarossa shows a lot of self-awareness on these tracks, and you’ve got to have that to have flavor.
Bloodlines is out now on Memphis Industries.
