Electronic Sound July 2015 (Regular Edition) | Page 28

ALBUM REVIEWS

industrial beats and danceable synth riffs.
There are a few vocal guest on ‘Imager’
too whose presence also recalls Mathé’s
folk days: ‘Silent Island’ (All Saints’ ‘Pure
Shores’, anyone?) merges his keening
vocals with the ethereal tones of Katy
Young from post-folk trio Peggy Sue,
while ‘Home’ sees Mathé joined by old
friend and long-time collaborator, José
González.

BARBAROSSA
Imager

MEMPHIS INDUSTRIES

Third album from Londoner James
Mathé is a real cerebral charmer
Rather pleasingly, James Mathé,
otherwise known as Barbarossa, does in
fact have a red beard. And ‘Imager’, his
third long-player, is as on trend as his
facial hair, bringing to mind the likes of
alt-J and the all-new electronic version
of Portico.
But while Mathé seems settled in his
style, that’s not to say there hasn’t been
an evolution in his work. Debuting as
part of Edinburgh folkers, the Fence
Collective, the first incarnation of
Barbarossa would not exactly have
been at home in the pages of Electronic
Sound, but Mathé made a change in
2013 for his second release, ‘Bloodlines’.
Having traded in the acoustic guitar
for a Casiotone and a drum machine,
Barbarossa started making music that
sounds like a neat crossover of Hot
Chip and ‘Violator’-era Depeche Mode,
stepping away from, but not totally
ignoring, his folk roots.
Mathé’s voice has that clean, pure
quality folk singers often have; he croons
helplessly, despairingly, contrasting his