Matthew Ferness – Tomorrows Kids [GLBDOM Records]

mathew ferness, glbdoom

With Mathew Ferness’s latest EP for Russian underground label GLBDOM, the Canadian producer delivers three low-key, melodic, yet highly stimulating, deep House cuts. Across the EP, Ferness straddles the line between emotive and cerebral dance music. The result is a deeply rich and gorgeously lush set of tracks, one that seems poured over in its detail, but also highly idiosyncratic and explorative in its execution. 

Despite his more experimental urges, there’s a gentleness and ease to Ferness’ music. The second cut on the EP, “Tomorrows Kids”, features distorted vocal samples of what sound like young kids by a windy beach. What easily could have been used for much creepier effect actually affords the track a warm and comforting tone, like the memories of a carefree summer as a child suddenly enveloping you. The beat is jaunty and uptempo, the synths dramatic, but the track never feels as if it’ll careen over the edge. Ferness establishes a kind of house-of-mirrors structure throughout, as the central melody repeats over and over, the vocal sample emerging and receding exactly the same each time. 

Rather than growing tiresome or redundant, however, the track’s cyclical structure underlines its nostalgic tone and invites the listener to more deeply immerse themselves in its rhythms and melodies. On this track, Ferness manages to tap into the feeling of a sudden rush of a memory of easier times––of innocence and youth––that you feel in no hurry to leave once it’s arrived.

Pre-order.

Gilad.