Salvation

Released on 17 September 2021, Salvation introduces Pie Eye Collective as a project rooted in curiosity, but guided by instinct. The solo alias of Matthew Gordon, a Bristol-born, London-based producer, the album plays like a study in organised chaos, where electronica is reshaped through jazz phrasing, dub textures and fractured rhythm.

Across its ten tracks, Salvation resists easy categorisation. Opener “Gratitude” sets the tone with drifting harmonics and fluid chord progressions, before the title track tightens the focus into something more immediate. From there, Gordon moves freely between states, “Assimilation” and “In Habit” stretching out into hypnotic, slow-burning pieces that feel both intricate and weightless.

Rhythm is the album’s most compelling tool. Time signatures bend and slip, never quite settling, yet never losing their sense of purpose. On “Flibbers”, featuring Hector Plimmer, that elasticity becomes playful, while “Hymn” introduces a softer, more meditative space through its collaboration with MettaShiba. Even the shorter interludes, such as “Djed” and “Beta”, feel purposeful, acting as transitions rather than filler.

What makes Salvation resonate is its balance between experimentation and feeling. Gordon’s influences are wide, drawing from ambient, broken beat, dub-techno and hip hop, but the album never feels like a collage of references. Instead, it flows as a cohesive body of work, unified by a sense of exploration and an ear for texture.

There is a looseness to the record that works in its favour. Despite the complexity behind the compositions, the music feels immediate, almost instinctive. It invites the listener to drift with it, to lose track of structure and simply follow the movement of sound.

As a debut full-length, Salvation is both confident and open-ended. It captures an artist in the act of discovery, translating abstract ideas into something tactile and immersive. A record that does not demand attention, but rewards it quietly, revealing more with each return.