Matthew Dear

Initially emerging as a favorite of the minimal techno scene during the early 2000s, Matthew Dear gradually developed a highly unique style of experimental electropop, winning over indie crowds and critics. First surfacing with a series of inventive club 12"s, he began incorporating his own <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">Bowie</a>-inspired vocals into his productions on his 2003 full-length debut, Leave Luck to Heaven, successfully fusing experimental techno with pop. While he still made club-tailored instrumentals under the names <a href="spotify:artist:1ygSVTF0A998n2Z3nmLei8">Audion</a>, False, and <a href="spotify:artist:6ZJvFFyLWnj4xqjN52gJwL">Jabberjaw</a>, his material under his own name increasingly became more lyric-driven, with ambitious albums such as 2010's Black City and 2012's Beams featuring slower tempos and more introspective songwriting. Performing with a live band, he's opened for major acts like <a href="spotify:artist:762310PdDnwsDxAQxzQkfX">Depeche Mode</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3WaJSfKnzc65VDgmj2zU8B">Interpol</a> on their world tours. Aside from his own productions and performances, he remains an in-demand DJ, and has released notable mixes such as 2017's DJ-Kicks. After releasing 2018's Bunny, a pop-focused album featuring collaborations with <a href="spotify:artist:5e1BZulIiYWPRm8yogwUYH">Tegan and Sara</a>, he revisited his vast archive of unreleased material with collections like 2021's country-influenced Preacher's Sigh & Potion: Lost Album.

Born and raised in Texas, Dear first discovered electronic music at age 16; he later attended the University of Michigan, where he met future <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ghostly+International%22">Ghostly International</a> label founder Sam Valenti IV. He started DJ'ing at parties and eventually moved into production. In late 1999, he and <a href="spotify:artist:6rikRjgHeeQmCi0Ygrg4RN">Daisha</a> (aka <a href="spotify:artist:6rikRjgHeeQmCi0Ygrg4RN">Disco D</a>) teamed up to deliver the inaugural <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ghostly%22">Ghostly</a> 12" release, "Hands Up for Detroit." Its speedy disco-house sound remains an outlier in Dear's discography. Dear wound up on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ghostly%22">Ghostly</a>'s more dance-oriented subsidiary <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Spectral+Sound%22">Spectral Sound</a>, for which he debuted in late 2000 with the lean techno 12" "Irreparably Dented"; another, "Stealing Moves," followed in 2002. That year, Dear signed to <a href="spotify:artist:3AhwIUus3pIaA3CvYBEtpy">Richie Hawtin</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Plus+8%22">Plus 8</a> label, where he issued some of his most stripped-down productions as False.

2003 was an extremely busy year for Dear. His first False singles were compiled on a self-titled disc. As <a href="spotify:artist:6ZJvFFyLWnj4xqjN52gJwL">Jabberjaw</a>, he released the playful "Girlfriend" 12" on Berlin's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Perlon%22">Perlon</a> label, and returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Spectral+Sound%22">Spectral Sound</a> for EP1 and EP2 that summer. In November, he released his first true full-length album, Leave Luck to Heaven, also on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Spectral+Sound%22">Spectral Sound</a>. Titled after the loose English translation of the word "Nintendo," the album earned positive notice from a number of publications and was led by the highly acclaimed single "Dog Days."

The following year, he issued Backstroke and the "Anger Management" single and initiated his <a href="spotify:artist:1ygSVTF0A998n2Z3nmLei8">Audion</a> alias -- a vehicle for aggressive and challenging techno -- with a pair of 12" releases for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Spectral+Sound%22">Spectral Sound</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:1ygSVTF0A998n2Z3nmLei8">Audion</a> dominated Dear's next couple years, which involved an album (Suckfish), a handful of singles, and the Fabric 27 mix. Also in 2006, Dear's "Hands Up for Detroit" was sampled by Netherlands-based producer <a href="spotify:artist:7dc6hUwyuIhrZdh80eaCEE">Fedde Le Grand</a> for "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit," a pervasive club hit of 2006-2007. Asa Breed, billed as the proper full-length follow-up to Leave Luck to Heaven, was issued in June 2007 and stuck to sparse, song-based avant pop.

As Dear kept <a href="spotify:artist:1ygSVTF0A998n2Z3nmLei8">Audion</a> active and revived <a href="spotify:artist:6ZJvFFyLWnj4xqjN52gJwL">Jabberjaw</a>, he recorded another album of strange songs in the form of Black City, released in August 2010. The full-length was one of Dear's most acclaimed works, earning rave reviews and ranking in several year-end lists. Slowdance, issued in 2011 and billed as an EP, collected nine remixes and added "Innh Dahh," Black City's digital bonus track. In 2012, the four-track Headcage EP and "Her Fantasy" single preceded the Beams album. "Pale Shelter," a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:5e1BZulIiYWPRm8yogwUYH">Tegan and Sara</a>, followed in 2013.

After he put out a second <a href="spotify:artist:1ygSVTF0A998n2Z3nmLei8">Audion</a> album through <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22%21K7%22">!K7</a> in 2016, Dear remained with the label and added to its DJ-Kicks series with a set released in January 2017. That summer, he issued the gothy chillout track "Modafinil Blues" on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ghostly%22">Ghostly</a>, followed by a collaborative single with <a href="spotify:artist:5e1BZulIiYWPRm8yogwUYH">Tegan and Sara</a> called "Bad Ones." "Love Games," a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:37uLId6Z5ZXCx19vuruvv5">Hot Chip</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:380fnmlGnkyueBMqGWx2k5">Joe Goddard</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4W991QdgKWX4TO864ypInA">Eats Everything</a>, appeared in 2018. Bunny, Dear's first studio album in six years, appeared in October. Dear began delving into his archives of unreleased material, digitally issuing Backstroke 2 and 3 in 2020. Preacher's Sigh & Potion: Lost Album, a surprising detour into country-influenced songwriting recorded around 2008 and 2009, was released in 2021. ~ Steve Huey & Andy Kellman, Rovi