Matt Goodluck - Portals

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Matt Goodluck’s Portals reflects a singular musical vision and carries me on a journey through beautiful sonic moments and uniquely expressed emotions. The artist has a charming ability to weave together synth and guitars to drift through atmospheric landscapes and meditative states. His melodic writing is engaging and the way in which he mingles tones, timbres, and sonic textures creates ear-pleasing mental imagery. As the music unfolds, it truly opens portals to other worlds and states of mind, pulling me along and creating a fulfilling listening experience.

I am bowled over by Matt Goodluck and his guests compositional creativity. The music is full of superbly combined auditory qualities, with melodies that move in fresh directions and convey powerful feelings with clarity and purpose. Whether they are evoking intergalactic drifting or the endless sands of a desert planet, they do so with skill and passion. As a result, Portals bursts with wonderfully realized imagery and expression. Each track explores somewhere new and I am eager to go along with it.

All of the guitar playing on Portals further endears me to it. Matt Goodluck and his guests are talented players, channeling psychological states and vivid imagery through their instruments. They lift me above the mundane and transports me to places I’ve never been. Their musical skill allows them to be first-rate tour guides through the soundscapes and emotions that unfold as the music progresses.

For me, the ability of Portals to reveal other worlds and visions of reality is deeply enjoyable. There is a sense of adventure and opening vistas that permeates every song. I am a willing participant in Matt Goodluck’s voyages through time and space.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Shifting Sands” comes to life as trembling tones swirl with softly intertwining synths and an electric guitar which drifts with soothing motion. The percussion rebounds to contribute a strong rhythm as the guitar swirls like sand running across the dunes. The beat creates a steady pulse as the subterranean bass moves and a broadly floating synth transmits visions of vast emptiness.

The bubbling notes add roundness as a distorted voice wanders with unsettling sensations. As steadily vibrating notes roam, the guitar hovers like sand slowly blowing in a steady wind. Rippling notes flicker as the threatening bass rumbles and fades before air breathes through psychedelically disembodied notes.

Images of endless horizons, full of rolling dunes, permeate the music. I feel as though I am traveling across this landscape, continually washed by hot wind. Tony Lopresto’s guitar adds minor-key cascades while the beat rebounds and crystalline notes shimmer. The drum beat and bass are hypnotic while the guitar levitates with fragility and the track slides into quiet.

Towering, shadowy notes move around an auroral synth to commence “Dark Waters”. Weightlessness permeates the glowing synth as the low end adds shape. A slowly undulating note pattern trails through the music, while the percussion adds a lightly shaping pattern.

Gliding notes create placid sensations while elevated sounds glimmer softly and the bass adds weight. I find the music conjures up floating feelings for me. Trickling notes add to the aquatic sensibility while the lightly touching melody is joined by expansive sounds.

The tempo accelerates with a ticking beat and Tony Coppola’s washing bass adds rich depth while bending notes slip past. The main melody evokes eddying water while the lambent notes provide a contrast to the heavy bass. The music drifts along smoothly while Tony Lopresto’s entangling guitar transmits pure serenity and the percussion adds form. Notes tumble briefly before the track breathes out once more and silence falls.

“Synergy” starts with distantly revolving notes moving into softly hissing space. Cosmic wafting fills the widely trembling, metallic tones as they slip past above fragile arpeggios while percussion rattles. The resonant tones play through the music with disconnected grace, shimmering like far-off starlight.

A widely echoing synth vibrates with freedom as the delicate notes carry a melody exuding contemplative peace. Andy Salvanos’ Chapman stick has a planetary glisten as a tremulous synth shimmers with ancient light. Entangling notes surround me as the Chapman stick glints softly and the bass ripples. I am transported by this thoughtful, heartfelt piece through the broad star fields beyond the edge of our galaxy.

Drifting tones wander with restrained elegance and warmly breathing strings flicker. A quickly flashing synth evokes cosmic space, weightless and unmoored, as the Chapman stick rapidly skips to create a hypnotizing pattern. As twisting sounds wriggle in the distance, the strings cry with hurt and the guitar carries me away. A hissing sound, like cosmic dust, brushes past before the track finishes.

Crackling static and intimidating bass with an absently floating sound travels through to open “Dune”. Electric bass tangles with shadowy weight as the hissing wind continues. A softly tripping sound moves with the desert wind and a spectral-toned instrument descends mysteriously as a strumming guitar adds a unique feeling.

Vocal-sounding notes drift as the guitar evokes an ancient stringed instrument, carrying wisdom as the percussion locks into a slamming groove. The choral synth roams with nomadic grace while interlocking drums add to the otherworldly feeling. Voices echo with a timeless, enigmatic sensibility as rattling tones in the distance sound like bones in the wind.

Skittering noises create tension while an elevated, squirming sound drifts and the throbbing weight below thunders. Raised notes cry out as the heavily rebounding drum beat continues. I am hypnotized and captivated, my mind filled with images of endless sand dunes and the survivors who live in them.

Wind sweeps as the tapping percussion moves with slowly descending, caressing notes that float while the strings call out with minor key magic, weaving a desert melody that flows like endless wind. Hollow percussion pops as the wind blows and the track falls silent.

“After Hours” begins with rushing traffic and open-sounding drums while flaring notes glide. Clapping percussion moves with shifting tones, then sharp edged synth carries a laid-back melody. There’s a chilled-out cruise to the music that relaxes me as tautly unwinding sounds contrast with a crystalline synth lattice.

As the percussion throbs, the tightly unwinding synth skips while hard-edged bass slices and the drums brush past. Tapping sounds in the distance mix with pattering percussion as laser-like notes radiate. Silken sounds glide with nocturnal grace while the percussion continues to pulse.

A minor key synth transforms into an erupting, percussive rush joined by trembling sounds and vocal tones that add a sense of creeping danger. The drum beat is steady while the low end snarls and tumbles before being cut by neon light, shining into the city. Piercing tones glimmer before the music stops.

Flatly rattling and bursting percussive sounds tremble to commence “Visions”. The rhythmic pattern becomes hypnotic as dangerous bass adds ominous undertones. Distantly tapping sounds are unsettling as the vocal clip adds otherworldly strangeness. Gnarled synth brings ghostly sensations while a writhing sound creates crawling discomfort.

Full-sounding notes wander and a string-like synth vibrates as the voiceover speaks of psychoactive substances bringing on alterations in consciousness. The bass continues to oscillate lugubriously while a piercingly gleaming instrument cries out.

Tremulous notes heave as a trickling xylophone conjures reawakening to a new consciousness for me. Dripping sounds move while the hollow background shifts, and a wide-sounding synth unevenly shimmers as rattling notes entangle and swelling depths rise before the track closes.

“Golden Haze” opens with meditative breathing and thoughtful synth along with xylophone-like tones which shiver out in luscious calm. The springy drums throb and the bass pulses while medium-high, soft-edged notes carry a deeply relaxing melody. The rhythm is smooth and hypnotic while clapping percussion adds a clean feel.

Bouncing notes frolic as delicate energy permeates them above the resonating beat. Fluting, warm tones drift with a misty flow, falling like morning fog pierced by sunlight. Deep voices call out while Tony Lopresto’s guitar evokes sparkling blue sky glimpsed through dissipating fog. Digitally vibrant tones shift as the undulating notes move below, bringing the song to its end.

Massively vibrating sounds begin “Departure” as the guitar churns and fragile chimes gleam. Power radiates from the guitar, creating a sensation of growing strength underneath the faraway bells. Misty light suffuses the background while glowing notes shine like distant galaxies as the bass grows seismic.

A feeling of anti-gravity soaring moves from the bright synth outward, evoking a sensation of slowly rising through a planetary atmosphere, filling me with feelings of horizons opening. The guitar shines with freedom and delicacy while the rhythmic pattern below it generates strength. I can picture a spacecraft waiting on a launch pad, engines beginning to fire for a voyage home.

Everything is still and calm, anticipation hanging in the air while a far-off rumble instills tension. The guitar glimmers like light on the atmosphere’s rim as trembling sounds press in. The main melody breathes out, releasing serenity in preparation for soaring to the stars. The guitar unwinds with subtle elegance, vaporous and glowing, while the background stutters with discomfort.

Sliding notes plane through the music, exhaling calmly as the bright tones gleam softly above the threatening bass. Balance is restored by a gliding synth that rolls smoothly, while distant shivering notes move and a pipe-like instrument echoes. The background rushes rapidly, but as the track finishes, all-pervasive tranquility reigns.

Conclusion

Portals opens the gates of my mind to fresh worlds and musical expressions. With this album, Matt Goodluck skillfully carries me away from a gritty, gray world and conveys me across vast swathes of stars and into realms beyond ordinary consciousness.