NEW ALBUMS
CHORUSING Half Mirror
Analogue gearhead’s first, five years in the making
WESTERN VINYL
7/10
Given his passion for DIY electronics and a day job with Moog Music calibrating and building synths, it’s a wonder Matthew O’Connell didn’t get down to his debut album sooner. But evolution must run its course and the Raleigh, NC-based singer-songwriter and producer spent years drumming in Louisville punk and hardcore bands. No evidence of that is audible here, though. Instead, a spare and seductively lonesome pooling of bluesy folk and electronics that eschews “folktronica” and nods to Martyn, Hollis, Crosby and Jason Molina. O’Connell lets it flow wider, too, as on psychedelic jam “Midday Sun” and “Watching The Beams”, which echoes Cloudland Canyon’s kosmische melts.