Galaxy Garden

Production

Galaxy Garden was recorded between October 2010 and November 2011 in Manchester. It was his third full-length studio album. Galaxy Garden was first album that was not done as a side-hobby for Cutler, but as a full-time career as a musician which made it difficult for him to get motivated. Cutler stated that he was "making lots of house-y, kind of 4/4 tunes, and I just got really bored of doing that, but at the same time I didn't have a clue what I was going to do next. I was a few months into this weird spell, and I started to worry". Cutler began working on a track that would become "New Colour" and became inspired by it to take the album in that direction. Cutler spent the rest of the year making new songs with "New Colour" being the jumping point.

The album features vocals from Machinedrum and Anneka. This was the first album of Lone's to use original recorded vocals rather than sampled vocal pieces.

Style

Galaxy Gardens was a different style than his 2011 EP Echolations (2011), which was house oriented. Unlike previous albums which contained musical references to house and hip hop music, Galaxy Gardens was meant to be "reference free" with Cutler stating he was "influenced by nothing".

The album's sound has been compared to rave music, Dummy described the sounds of the album as a "personal interpretation of these familiar [rave] sounds, colours and symbols in a more modern and allusive way."

Release

Galaxy Garden was released on vinyl and compact disc by R&S Records on 1 May 2012. The first single from the album was "Crystal Caverns 1991". Cutler has stated that the songs that didn't make it onto the album were not going to be included on future releases.

Reception

Initial critical response to Galaxy Garden was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 77, based on 15 reviews. The BBC gave a very positive review, referring to it as his best album and that it "stands proudly beside sets from Slugabed, Actress and John Talabot as one of "dance"-in-2012's very best albums." Mixmag referred to the album as "easily his most defining moment to date" and " it's the smart weaves in and out of expectation – the jolts, the swerves – that make it an instant classic." Online music zine Pitchfork shared these views as well, referring to it as "his most complete statement yet".

Drowned in Sound gave the album an eight out of ten rating, opining that Lone was "delivering the music he always promised" as well as that the "only snag with Galaxy Garden's flow is it can feel too fidgety, with literally everything thrown into the mix". The British magazine Fact gave the album a three and a half out of five rating, warning that it was an album that "certainly dividing existing Lone fans" as compared to previous albums, "there are only fleeting moments of reference to Lone's previous preoccupations in classic house and hip-hop"

Track listing

All tracks by Matt Cutler.

1. "New Colour" – 4:39
2. "The Animal Pattern" – 4:26
3. "As A Child" – 5:27
4. "Lying in the Reeds" – 4:31
5. "Dragon Blue Eyes" – 1:11
6. "Crystal Caverns 1991" – 4:53
7. "Raindance" – 4:22
8. "Dream Girl / Sky Surfer" – 5:23
9. "Earth's Lungs" – 4:20
10. "Cthulhu" – 4:28
11. "Stands Tidal Waves" – 1:47
12. "Spirals" – 5:33

Personnel