Matthew Collings – Silence is a Rhythm Too

Matthew Collings (Scotland) has not only recorded and performed as a solo artist, but also worked together with Dag Rosenqvist (Jasper TX), Talvihorros and Ben Frost.
He has been performing live using custom-made software, and composed movie scores – such as a live score for “Man with a Movie Camera”.

“Silence is a Rhythm Too“ is his second solo-album, and it turns out to be quite different from its more ‘minimalist pop’ orientated predecessor“Splintered Instruments” (which is rereleased together with the new album).

Right from the first track (“Stills”) it’s clear that we’re leaving ‘ambient’ territory here to drift into more experimental sonic landscapes, ranging from “tiny delicate moments of intimacy to all consuming noise”.
A lot of the sounds are from acoustic sources: Matthew “avoids working with computers – only using them for convenience, not as a principle.”
There’s brass ensembles, a string quartet, but also “prepared amplifiers and electronics pushed to the extreme”.

“Collings interest is musically based on huge densities of sound just as he’s fascinated by opposing forces to wrestle with each other.”

On “Silence is a Rhythm Too“, (the album title referring to a 1980 Slits song called “In the beginning there was rhythm”), Noise and Silence are mutually related, respresenting Life and Death, respectively.
The album is full of intricate details to be discovered while moving from one climax to another, “as it is about harmony and physicality in the moment where silence and noise meet”