SCULPTURE MUSIC – EP REVIEW


Sculpture Music – The Compass EP 
Sculpture Music - The Compass

Release Date: Out Now

So often I receive new music which is impressive enough but played out on the tried and tested instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Step forward Exeter based soloist Sculpture Music (aka Matt Calder) and we have a very different affair on our hands. This EP features acoustic guitar, for sure, but there’s also Hang Drum, Halo Handpans and a whole load of non-organic instrumentation that makes for a heady and disorientating brew. The first of these four tracks is ‘Seeds’ which opens like an 80s movie ballad before growing and emerging in to something more otherworldly. Sculpture Music blends the melodies and tone of Tears for Fears or Howard Jones with a worldlier outlook that wouldn’t be out of place on a Peter Gabriel album. It’s a strong start indeed.

‘A Last Kiss’ starts as though it is played backwards through your half-awake consciousness on a sunny afternoon and you start to realise that Sculpture Music has created something more akin to a mood-scape than a set of traditional set of songs. In fact, nothing here is as you might expect it with both time and space allowed to run rampant on all the songs – not something you hear a lot of these days. On ‘Let Go’, things step up a notch with an insistent beat plays nicely with the delicate and subtle melodies to create music that has a cinematic feel to it but also an atmospheric nature that fills the space all around you. The EP closes out with title track ‘The Compass’ where rippling acoustic notes mix with Folk inspired vocals and a contemporary beat that keeps this away from sounding like a tired shanty. Sculpture Music is creating music in a different way but that doesn’t mean he’s ignore the importance of melody and mood which are both captured here in glorious abundance.