MATTSON 2
Shares "Shell Beach" Video
Paradise Out Now on Company Records
On Tour Now + East Coast Dates This Fall with Marco Benevento
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Photo credit: Andrew Paynter
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Mattson 2, the duo of identical twin brothers Jared and Jonathan Mattson, just released its psychedelic jazz record Paradise to acclaim from the Washington Post, Pitchfork, Noisey, and KCRW, among others, and today the brothers share the summery video for album track "Shell Beach." "This was our attempt at writing an R&B track," the Mattsons say. "We still wanted to give it some sunshine but there's some dark overtones of loss and longing in it. The dark clouds emitting from the nuclear power plant, backdropped on the sea shore metaphorically depict this contrast."
Paradise is out now on Company Records. It is available for purchase HERE.
WATCH: "SHELL BEACH"
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MATTSON 2 ON TOUR
7/12: Forecastle Festival - Louisville, KY
7/19: SOhO Restaurant & Music Club - Santa Barbara, CA
7/26: The Wayfarer - Santa Ana, CA
7/27: Pappy & Harriet's - A Benefit For Joshua Tree National Park w/ Allah-Las, Sugar Candy Mountain - Pioneertown, CA
8/02: Boise Goathead Fest - Boise, ID
8/09: Telluride Jazz Festival - Telluride, CO
10/3-5: Off Beat Festival - Reno, NV
10/17: Port City Music Hall - Portland, ME*
10/19: Higher Ground Showcase - South Burlington, VT*
10/20: Gateway City Arts - Holyoke, MA*
10/23: StageOne at FTC - Fairfield, CT*
10/24: Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY*
10/25: Underground Arts - Philadelphia, PA*
10/26: Pearl Street Warehouse - Washington, DC*
* w/ Marco Benevento
PRAISE FOR PARADISE:
"With their shared DNA and profound connection, the Mattson twins are unlike any band you've seen before." - Washington Post
"The twin-brother jazz duo are experts at channeling the sounds of light and ease, and there's something almost alchemical about their mutual precision." - Pitchfork
"Their crystalline, melodic surf-psych sound conjures up greener pastures and sunny days." - KCRW
"While the two prove to be stellar songwriters, it's their extended jams and vibe-setting that make this such an enticing listen." - Noisey
"'Naima's Dream'... brings warm, mellow vibes and nods toward Chuck Mangione without using any horns." - Brooklyn Vegan
"'Wavelength' is a laid-back groove, something to listen to on those sweltering summer afternoons spent whiling away the daylight in the shade." - Paste
"Buoyant and breathable, airbrushed with '70s vibes, and content to find a groove and float 'til sunrise." - San Diego CityBeat
MORE ON PARADISE:
When things are right, they're right; it's rare that everything falls into place. It's rarer still to capture that feeling on wax, which is what The Mattson 2 have achieved with their latest album, Paradise. It's their second release on Chaz Bear's (fka Chaz Bundick, aka Toro y Moi) Company Records, and first without Bear as a member of the band. The identical twins, Jared (guitars) and Jonathan (drums), have left their trademark virtuosity on display; within the 32-minute runtime they've managed to capture the arc of an entire relationship between two people. You can tell from how warm the guitars sound - we go from emotional equilibrium to longing to happiness to loss. "For years and years you've been on my mind," they sing, and mean it. When the Mattsons sing the line "you're so special, you're so easy" it's easy to forget they're not talking to you.
Even so, it's a record to throw a frisbee to - it's a sylphlike, sylvan thing, meant to be used and enjoyed. "We don't want people to think too hard," they say. "We want to let people in!" That's perhaps because it's the first album they've written and recorded in their home, which is a wooden cabin in the hills of San Diego. You can hear the sun in the keyboards, in the 80s-inflected jazz. The singing is new, too. What it adds up to is a bigger, bolder sound than their previous work; the brothers say they went into it trying out a conceptually new, cohesive sound - a new sonic palette to create from. It's a little bit of summer you can savor all year long.
They've been playing shows for 15 years without any vocals; on Paradise, though, the twins have added their voices to the mix, which adds a welcome new human dimension to the record. "No matter how much someone loved the instrumental set they'd ask if we sang!" Jared said. Even so, the lyrics are meant to be abstract, to conjure a mood. If you listen closely you'll be able to discern what the Mattson brothers are feeling. There's longing, in songs that are about getting what you want and realizing it's not actually the right thing; there's lyrics about not being free, in both the capitalist system and in the creative one. There's a song about a loved one dying from an overdose. There are deep themes here, even if the subjects are treated lightly.
On "Naima's Dream," which opens the album, the Mattsons lock into a buoyant melody; it sounds like the feeling of lying in a park on a carefree, sunny day, watching the dogs chase the people throwing frisbees in the distance. That feeling carries through the rest of the album, too; on "Essence," which describes a relationship in progress. "You're so special, you're so easy," the Mattsons sing over a lush guitar arrangement propelled by a truly grooving bass line.
The range of human experience is vast, and the Mattsons have managed to capture a piece of it in stunning detail. Being alive demands every kind of adjective: difficult, boring, fun, sustaining, affirming, renewing, reviving, strenuous, punishing, arbitrary, unfeeling, inconvenient, and everything in between. The slice that the Mattsons describe in this album is uniformly sweet, but inflected with the knowledge of how quickly things can change, and how, most of the time, it's hard to recognize that they're changing until the metamorphosis is already complete.
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