Matt Cutler’s fifth album as Lone is a summery affair, full of colour and invention. Cutler has spoken of the influence of Chicago house and Detroit techno on his thinking for this record, though he manages to include those references without sounding too derivative. ‘Restless City’ is a fine example of how he can break up the beats in an inventive and original way, while one of the standout cuts, ‘Airglow Fires’, adds a powerful burst of energy to the mix. Cutler delights in adding warm washes of colour to his music through thick chord progressions, the colours vividly projected into tracks like ‘Aurora Northern Quarter’, which then cuts to a sharp burst of piano riffing. You’ll gather from this that ‘Reality Testing’ looks both forward and backwards, harnessing its inventive beats to music of real warmth and depth.
4 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
{http://soundcloud.com/nowjustplayit/lone-2-is-8}
