Rarely does the music world gift us with a vocal as smooth as Matt Johnson of The The. Casomado brings that in spades over a backdrop of lovingly filtered hip hop beats on his new track Rose Plague. Wrapped in light guitar licks and inquisitively pitch-bent synths, Rose Plague is the perfect complement to any time spent from the chill haze of a morning routine to a cooldown from the day’s trials. Its appeal is in this ubiquitous appropriateness. The word viral comes to mind.
This is music you could meditate to. You could get lost in it and enjoy some lovely introspection. In the company of others, this could be mood music for an intimate conversation just as easily as it could be a soundscape for exploring a virtual world with friends. This music is electronic in nature but also exudes a natural, organic feeling. It fits right whether you’re clearing the dancefloor before the next DJ set, or if you’re exploring a woodland trail hoping you reach the summit by sunrise.
Casomado displays tenderness in his approach to both his own performance and the context of his presentation. It’s always refreshing to hear a musician who really seems to swim in his music, as opposed to swimming over it. It’s a quality we don’t always get to hear outside of shoegaze or dream pop. These influences are a welcome addition to Rose Plague’s rooted hip hop sensibility.
-Paul Weyer