Matthew McQueen’s music as Matthewdavid started attracting attention at the top of this decade, and the California-via-Florida-via-Atlanta beatmaker benefited from excellent timing. After a few years of bouncing around Los Angeles’ burgeoning electronic music scene—an exploratory period that included the founding of his initially cassette-focused label Leaving—he caught the discerning ear of Flying Lotus, who signed McQueen to his own Brainfeeder imprint. His proper debut LP, Outmind, was released in 2011, which, depending on how you look at it, was either a very fertile or very tough period for bedroom producers who drew influence from hip-hop. At that time, musicians of questionable talent emerged constantly in this sphere, and many of them directly ripped off FlyLo’s sidechained, fusion-focused sound. McQueen's aesthetic bore a clear debt to his label head, but Outmind stood apart from the pack, a static-riddled document that infused its more straightforward moments with dense thickets of obscured noise.
McQueen’s latest full-length, In My World, could be considered Outmind’s proper follow-up after a few low-profile releases, but the album represents a move away from earlier style. The shift is immediately apparent in the opening title track, which pairs a decaying AM-radio sample with a pulsing rhythmic framework and, most notably, McQueen’s voice. “In my world, it’s paradise for you,” he sing-raps, before stating plainly, “Outer space is where I want to know you.”
This latest detour could owe something to significant life events—McQueen recently married and had a child—and In My World certainly seems more personal than his previous work. Regardless, his choice to sing, rap, and sing-rap throughout In My World is obviously risky; his vocals tend to distract from what surrounds them, and his skill on the mic is, at best, rudimentary. McQueen’s turn here brings to mind fellow West Coast hip-hop-influenced oddball James Pants, another polyglot artist who had a brief moment of increased visibility earlier this decade; at times, In My World’s fixation on R&B-abused frameworks and dub-influenced sonics comes across as similarly dated.
In My World’s back half briefly ditches McQueen’s voice and is more engaging for it—”West Coast Jungle Juke”, in particular, heads back to Outmind’s foggy swarm before quietly erupting in an ‘ardcore break near its end. And when he takes the mic again on the closing cut “Birds in Flight” it’s his strongest vocal on the album: he simmers and whines over a bed of rainforest sonics and distant flute, a soothing and somewhat affecting creation reminiscent of Animal Collective member Avey Tare’s solo work. Even at its best, though, In My World resembles a less-engaging version of someone else, the sound of an artist regressing instead of stepping forward into new territory.
