Matt Martians – The Last Party

Matt Martians’ second solo album finds the producer in a moment of sea change. After a tough breakup, the founding member of The Internet reflected on what was working in his life, and what wasn’t. He realised that, to move on, he needed to purge himself of his insecurities and start over with a clean slate. His new album’s titular celebration is a final, cathartic death knell for all his flaws.

It’s a lot tamer than it sounds. At his own deathday party, Martians holes himself up in the bedroom with a bong in his hand and a woman on his arm. 'Don't know when we'll arrive, girl / Oh, let’s just smoke', he sings on Southern Isolation 2, which, at first, delivers on the promise of the album’s title with its bouncy clave rhythm, before the pace slackens as Martians’ thoughts turn to 'time wasted' with his ex. The Last Party mostly picks up where the amorous, lo-fi funk of his 2017 debut The Drum Chord Theory left off, but his infatuations are now coloured by heartbreak.

Ironically, the album’s lyrical digressions into off-kilter, Thundercat-esque humour are its most revealing. 'Why the fuck am I dealing with this bitch?', Martians heatedly asks himself on Look Like, a tragicomedy about a doomed trip to London, scored by spacey synths and rolling thunder, before ashamedly backtracking: 'I shouldn’t have called her a bitch / She didn’t do anything to deserve that'. Even at a party thrown for his own worst qualities, Martians refuses to become the bitter ex-boyfriend.

'We both realise, can’t disguise / This is the last time', he admits on the closing title track while a cluster of cymbals pierce the mix like a bad hangover. As day breaks, he finds clarity, addressing his ex directly and at last making peace with their split. His demons are exorcised and, in the harsh, warm glow of the morning sun, Matt Martians is reborn.

Listen to: Look Like, Pony Fly