Matthew E. White returns to Richmond with a live performance, backed by the Spacebomb House Band, at Strange Matter this Sunday. To Richmond, White’s status as a prolific musician is an established fact–from his previous work with The Great White Jenkins and Fight The Big Bull to the high profile his solo work has enjoyed, RVA’s heard a lot about White. However, to his newly acquired international fan base, he’s known only for his critically acclaimed solo debut, Big Inner. That changed when Big Inner’s appendage, the Outer Face EP, dropped in October.
Matthew E. White returns to Richmond with a live performance, backed by the Spacebomb House Band, at Strange Matter this Sunday. To Richmond, White’s status as a prolific musician is an established fact–from his previous work with The Great White Jenkins and Fight The Big Bull to the high profile his solo work has enjoyed, RVA’s heard a lot about White. However, to his newly acquired international fan base, he’s known only for his critically acclaimed solo debut, Big Inner. That changed when Big Inner’s appendage, the Outer Face EP, dropped in October. Released both as a standalone vinyl EP and as a bonus disc on the Domino Records re-release of Big Inner, this five-song compilation is a message to the fans he’s garnered from a year and a half on the road that White is dedicated to evolving and pushing the boundaries of his art. After touring with the Mountain Goats in the fall of 2012, White and the Spacebomb crew embarked on an international tour. For White, highlights included playing to a sold out crowd in Copenhagen, and “seeing internationally people really understanding the material and really responding to it and turning out to hear it.” After the praise for Big Inner, his goal for the expanded Domino Records reissue of his debut is to “expand the palate of what people thought of when they thought of what I make.”
Completed on the road, the EP is comprised of tunes that had incubated in White’s head since the release of Big Inner in 2012. He noted that for his process, “it’s really important to be ahead of your record cycle and keep up your imagination. The worst thing that can happen as an artist is to think, ‘I want to put out a record this year, well now, what kind of record do I want to put out?’” After playing 122 shows this past year, it makes sense that he would “want to keep that momentum going. It’s very, very important while you’re on the road to use this time when you’re not recording.”
If the exuberance of Big Inner’s horns cry out to the muse, the stripped down sound of Outer Face suggests this muse paid White a visit that helped him transcend to a state of relaxed sonic bliss. On Outer Face, “there’s no horn, guitars, piano,” he explained. “It’s so minimal and the strings are far out.” White described the record as having a “psychedelic, experimental vibe.” There is something mind-bending about the juxtaposition of angelic gospel voices against the funky yet minimal bassline of “Hot Hot Hot.” White is backed by Spacebomb house band musicians Pinson Chanselle on percussion and Cameron Ralston on bass.
When I asked White what prompted him to release this extension of Big Inner, he explained, “The goal was to make really experimental versions of pop songs in a Southern style. [They] could be almost radio songs, but take that and make it sound more experimental.” He clearly dipped his toes into a more radio friendly territory with tracks like the folky “In the Valley.” The EP features many of the same themes that were a trademark of Big Inner–think gospel elements and repetitive lyrical structures. However, there’s more of an unequivocally sexy vibe to this album; it has an R & B feel to it. The patience and ease with which these songs build dynamically inspires the same feelings you may attribute to something far more poppy, while the repetition of lyrics hearkens back to Big Inner’s fundamentals. White explained the progression, saying, “We wanted to take Big Inner and expand it. It’s important to stretch your vocabulary, and Domino gave me the opportunity to do that. We’ve widened our (musical) vocabulary in the past year. “
Be sure to check out the Spacebomb Revue this Sunday, December 15, at Strange Matter, located at 929 W. Grace St. The show will feature sets from Matthew E. White and the newest Spacebomb recording artist, Howard Ivans, backed by the Spacebomb House Band. In White’s own words, it’s going to be a “huge Spacebomb party”–you won’t want to miss this homecoming show! Advance tickets are $12, and can be purchased here: http://spacebomb.eventbrite.com/ Admission is $14 at the door; doors open at 8 PM. For more info, click here.
