Barbarossa: New Album 'Love Here Listen' out March 5th

Swimming in the inky blackness of the North Sea near his home on coast of South East England gives Barbarossa aka James Mathé the out of body jolt that he needs to get things aligned, shed the superfluous and focus on the nitty gritty. You can see him there most days through the rain or shine, the darkness and cold somehow stripping away layers of calcified thought and allowing Mathe to ask the real questions and deal with personal trauma and stress. The swims informed much of what can be heard on Love Here Listen, his new album due for release on Memphis Industries on 05 March 2021.

Love Here Listen is Mathé’s sixth album since his debut, Sea Like Blood, released on the Fence Collective back in 2006, since which time he’s joined Jose Gonzales live show, become a member of Junip, toured with POLICA and This is the Kit and morphed from acoustic troubadoury to electronic song smithery all the while seemingly searching for an elusive balance between hopefulness and melancholy. On Love Here Listen, thanks to a reconnecting with the visceral forces of nature, it feels like he has found it.

For this latest batch of songs James Mathé collaborated with producer du jour Ghost Culture (Daniel Avery, Kelly Lee Owens, Falle Nioke) at his studio in Margate, Kent in the South East of England. The pair worked with a limited range of vintage synths - a Mono Poly, Korg MS-20 a Roland SH-101 and a Juno 108 borrowed from the local skate store Palm Bay Skates – with the recordings bounced down to Mathé’s Fostex R8 reel to reel to give it that undeniable warmth. Mathé says of the recording process: “It was probably the most stress-free record to date and so much fun just messing around with synth arps. It’s easy with James as we really understand each other and I trust him totally. He lives five minutes’ walk along the seafront from me. We even jumped in the sea a couple times after lunch”.

Music Video Barbarossa - Iris2Iris (Official Audio) - YouTube