Mathias Stubo

Within a year since his debut album “1979”, 19 year old producer/multi-instrumentalist Mathias Stubø strikes with another LP full of genre-breaking goodness. This time around it’s a 20-track full-length, divided into two halfs which together covers Stubø’s world of sound.

Part 1, High Frequency Feelings, is an intense, scientific voyage that takes us through an ocean of different genres, showcasing Stubø’s talent for mixing up all kinds of styles and using crossover instruments while still always remains his signature sound strong.

There are some serious elements of jazz rock and fusion throughout this LP which send our thoughts to cats like Zawinul and McLaughlin.

We can find traces of dubstep in the dreamy, half beat joint “Soon a Brighter Day” which features Ida Christine Stein on vocals, and the intense “Let Time Pass” touches the deeper parts of techno music, while with it’s intricate rhythmic patterns also flirts with afrobeat.

At the same time, whenever Kristoffer Eikrem’s trumpet comes in, it all gets pulled slightly towards modern harmonic jazz music.

There are even traces of contemporary classical music here and there, especially in “Opp i Lufta”, with it’s occasional off-scale flute lines and rubato parts. Both the marimba and the flute are used creatively to create organic sound effects, in real contemporary music fashion.

Part 2, Soul Touch, is a lush, downtempo, atmospheric experience showing Stubø’s love for modern instrumental beat music.

Part 2 is not that much about traditional songs, rather about ideas and concepts. Some of the instruments that are used are so processed and blurred up that they are hard to identify. Soul Touch is 11 timeless sounding soulful tracks, who looks back and forth at the same time, inspired by, mainly, in-and-out of relationships and the long, rough and cold Norwegian winter.

The disco aspect of Stubø’s previous record, 1979, is not as much represented in this release.

Instead we get the intricate, the abstract, the futuristic, with simple but clever harmonic changes, full of beautiful melodies to zone out to.

Pure headphone music aiming directly for the deepest corners of your soul.