dot.|maTic "Lullabies For Winter"

What comes to mind when you hear the word "winter"? Cold, snow, dreary, quiet, calm, love. Just about every feeling can come to mind when people think of the season, it all depends on your point of view and your own life experiences. What if someone attempted to create a soundtrack for winter that touches on some of these concepts? Well that is exactly what dot.|maTic did with "Lullabies For Winter." How exactly is this achieved? I shall do my best to capture the spirit and sound of each track for you, so here it goes.

The static sound of the radio "Joie's Overture." THe synths then grow in the background as the static fades. You have found your music for this cold day, coming through clear. The warm sound of the steady drums mixed with the synths penetrates your ears. You feel yourself rocking, back and forth a bit, it is a great track to listen to in a rocking chair while sipping some hot cocoa as you groove to the music.

A short piano solo starts, before the drums kick in and the snow (or possibly even sleet)begins to fall on "Black Narcissus Joint." It bounces off your windows, sounding like little pebbles tapping on glass repeatedly, illustrated by what appears to be wind chimes. It creates a rather relaxing feeling, imagine lying in bed, underneath the covers listening to the snow fall outside as you fade in and out of sleep. That is what this track sounds like, but trust me you won't want to miss the music so WAKE UP.

"Meteor" begins with an uptempo piano and drums, creating a rather cheerful feeling and that is even before the vocals enter (a simple looping "hey".) It feels like a party atmosphere, but not a wild and crazy party, more of a gathering of friends and family, everyone is jovial to be with those that they love and that love them.

The party goes to a whole different level of funkiness on "(Hot) Steppin'" probably my favorite joint on here partly because of the contrasting sound it contains. Sythns, piano and drums come at you full force in an incredible loop, done with live instruments. I challenge you to listen to this track and not get a smile on your face as you move to the infectious beat.

"N.N. Out (Salida)" features a romantic piano melody played over some drums, imagine a soulful rhythm and blues love song. There is also a voice saying "ok" feels like someone trying to either get words into a discussion that is very one sided as they are being told all that is wrong about the situation or someone is agreeing without caring what is being said just to just up the other person. The song changes dramatic in the second part as a upbeat Caribbean style rhythm takes over, as the one of "ok" person in the discussion walks away from the relationship.

The final track "Winter Baddness (Dub)" uses piano, strings and drum (as well as some well used vocals) before it changes tempo at the end to create the picture of make-up sex (possibly from the relationship captured in "N.N. Out (Salida)," it adds a nice happy ending (pun intended) to the heartache of winter, showing once again the wide array of emotions that Winter can evoke.

Sometimes I am surprised by a recording, either on how good or how bad it is, but that is not the case with dot.|maTic's latest outing, as it is released on Record Breakin' label, and as I've said multiple times i is one of the most consistent labels out there and "Lullabies for Winter" is no exception. So before the winter ends, check out this album and fully realize everything the season can evoke from us.

You can stream and download the album here.