Album Review: Bones

Lee Mvtthews, the award-winning Auckland based producer/DJ duo of Graham Matthews and Tom Lee, have been making waves for themselves over the last few years. Self-described as “high energy bass music”, Lee Mvtthews’ debut album, Bones, is solid, slick, lean, hungry, and infectious follow-up to their previous singles and EP.

The album kicks off with the ambitious, and sonically lush, anticipation-generator Incipere (Latin for “begin”). This is a track which slowly builds upon itself, holding a beautiful tension that threatens to explode at any moment. As the track builds, you know intuitively that this tension must be released with a massive bass drop, cracking dance beat, or similar, yet when it does eventually break, the effect remains powerful and somehow almost unexpected. It is this playfulness — especially in the way they play with the listener’s expectations—and the sheer strength and maturity of the songwriting/production, that sets Lee Mvtthews apart from the numerous other electronic artists within Aotearoa New Zealand.

Vocals are handled magnificently throughout the album by a number of guest vocalists, including the stunning vocals of emerging Kiwi talents Käyash, Abby Christo, Rei, Shard and Nü. This revolving line-up of vocalists provides a diversity of sound that complements the frantic basslines, blistering beats, electronic noise, and melodic synths that are so prominent in the Lee Mvtthews sound. The interplay between vocals and music is masterfully handled within the production duties, providing one of my absolute favourite moments in this entire album – when the music ‘overpowers’ the softly repeated, almost sultry vocal refrain at approximately 3 minutes 30 of In The Dark.

Other highlights (for me) of this album include the more old-school sounding Takeover, a track that would fit perfectly into one of the early Gatecrasher or Ministry of Sound compilations from the late 1990’s/early 2000’s, the bass-heavy banger If Only, and the more experimental and angular closing track Breathing. It’s a great release, and one that will see Lee Mvtthews continue their rapid rise.