REVIEW: Unless EP by MTMBO

A dreamy and woeful insight into real life.

As music fans, we are both lucky and unfortunate in how much new music we are exposed to on a daily basis. It’s hard enough for an established artist to break through the wall of sound, let alone someone on the come up. But sometimes a new artist forces you to stop and when listen they offer something both refreshing and familiar at the same time.

Among a particularly busy Friday (6th April) of fresh releases, London artist MTMBO (pronounced ‘Matembo’) released his debut EP, Unless. At 5 tracks and 14 minutes long, Unless is a hauntingly beautiful introduction into an emotionally mature mind. Often melancholic, the combination of his smooth voice, choice keys and synthy support makes for music that both washes over you and resonates with your core. My immediate reference points (because we always reach for those) are James Blake and Sampha, with a bit of Bon Iver for added internal entanglement. MTMBO gives us this insight into its creation: “I’m fascinated by how an alternate reality lives behind each choice we make or don’t make as we go through life, that idea definitely forms the foundation I built Unless on. The EP is one big question of ‘what if’?”

Starting with Worse for Wear, you are introduced to MTMBO with a crescendoing few lines repeated for the entirety, and synth chords adding texture to an almost hymn-like sound.

On Mottingham, previously released as a single in January, you hear lines like, “I stopped the rot I plugged that hole / But I can still fall”, repeated in a hazy melody, which jars with the words’ uncomfortable meaning. This is a trend in MTMBO’s music, perhaps most poignantly in Torn, where “Girl I wonder, how anything can live around you” is a refrain, contrasting so heavily with his delicate voice and catchy arrangement. It’s unquestionably my favourite track on the EP.

Flowers lulls you into a feeling I’ve experienced listening mainly to James Blake and The XX; you are tethered to this single-minded narrative that removes any detachment between song and listener, leaving you feeling quite helpless with emotion.

The EP ends with Twenty 3, a track with only a few words, including, “You’re not strong enough”, which is not a fairytale ending, but why should it be? This 14 minute ride takes you through insecurities, tensions, failures and romantic sentiments, none of which are simple to remedy or address. MTMBO’s embracing of the human condition as complex and ever-changing is what makes his music so relatable. He’s not trying to smooth the jagged edges with empty words. He makes his tracks more than listenable with his manifold musical abilities, but keeps his words uncomfortably truthful and at times, hard to digest.

As the first EP after a selection of singles, MTMBO is just warming up. Unless demonstrates courage and above all else, vulnerability, which is irresistible to a fan looking for music to engage with them on a few levels below consciousness.