Mattiel – Mattiel

Dusty horns, dustbowl blues and Dusty Springfield-style '60s pop with a cinematic visage...

I'm not sure at what point 'Tarantino' turned from a famed director into a genre of music, but here we are in 2018 with a record that can comfortably be described as peak Tarantino. 'Mattiel' is a familiar cocktail of dusty horns, dustbowl blues and Dusty Springfield-style '60s pop that almost screams out for accompanying widescreen vista or Mexican standoff. There's even the odd production choice of ending songs while they're in the process of fading out, as if to cut to the next scene.

Mattiel herself boasts a voice to break mixing desks with, rightly garnering herself Nancy Sinatra comparisons for her imperious, room-silencing delivery. The scorn that drips from her tongue on 'Not Today' is acidic and delicious in equal measure, scathingly explaining that she has better things to do today than see her boyfriend's shitty band play.

After years of straining to hear women whispering over deceptively intrusive bass-synths, it's good to have a singer willing to ride so roughshod over tracks, Florence Welch-style. Sure it's not easy to have much range when your vocals are stuck on full throttle. But when you've got a voice born to fill a 2.76:1 aspect ratio, what can you do?

7/10

Words: Josh Gray

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