Name: Imager
Brand: Barbarossa

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

mi0355lp

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Colour

black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2020-04-16

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

5060146095570

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

mi0355cd

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2015-05-11

5060146095532

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Barbarossa

Genre GB

Singer Songwriter

Label GB

Memphis Industries

Barbarossa, the nom de plume of Londoner James Mathe, follows up his 2013 album 'Bloodlines' with 'Imager' on memphis industries. 'Imager' is a cerebral, slow-burning album, tinged with melancholy and an alluring humanism. Mathe's musical journey started with folk-tinged balladry that saw him become part Fence collective, and subsequently a band member for the likes of Jose Gonzalez, Johnny Flynn and Junip. With 'Bloodlines', however, Mathe started to infuse his song writing with electronic flourishes, and now with 'Imager', he has completed his transformation into a fully fledged electronic soul pioneer. 

Working with co-producer Ash Workman (Metronomy, Summer Camp) Mathe builds on the foundations provided by his organic approach to song writing, to build elegiac electronic anthems that are filled with a simple, poignant immediacy. 'Imager' is pervaded with a sense of disquiet, perhaps driven subconsciously by the fact that the spaces where creativity and culture flourish in london are rapidly disappearing; that the artistic communities that Mathe grew up with are being driven out of London due to financial pressures, and as a result, something vital is being lost. yet while the album deals in displacement and heartbreak, a sense that everything is in flux, there are redemptive moments to stir the soul. 'Silent Island' is perhaps the best example of this. its melancholic refrain "this city holds no beauty for me", giving way to a blissful yet propulsive chorus that suggests creativity will always find a way. 

Imager

Music GB