Mattie Barbier — Threads

Threads is an album of deep ‘n’ broodingly sawing soundscaping created by skilful played and physically manipulated trombone and euphonium. I‘d guess you’d call what we have here is an acoustic ambient doom record.  

The five-track album appears on Norway’s Sofa Music, who are always hunting down the most intriguing/ creative in modern composition. The release is available as either an LP or CD, I’m reviewing the latter.
 
 LA-based Mattie Barbier is both a musician and sonic researcher- his output focuses on experimental intonation, noise, and the physical processes of his instrument. Threads is seemingly his first album- though he seems to have been involved( one way or another) with a handful of releases.
 
The five tracks featured have runtimes between four and fourteen minutes. We open with the deep ‘n’ earth simmering dread of “Untitled I” which finds a slowly pulled-out bass tone edged with eerier scape ‘n’ warble. There’s rolling, almost cluttering and billowing flow of “Floating Wave” which really feels like you are walking into a vast all-light engulfing archway of amassed and pure shadow. Or there’s the darkly regal trumpeting and sinisterly majestic glide ‘n’ wavering hoover of the final track “Coda”.
 
Threads largely pulls the listener down into a deep and inky sonic darkness- yes at points there are touches of grandeur and awe, but ultimately this is a deep, dark and heavy record, which at points feels like it could literally bow one's shoulders.