MatAre shares new track “Dancing With The Spirits”

Atlanta-based MatAre is an artist who’s built his diverse musical world around the idea that reinvention can be equally as important as consistency. Before the project arrived in its current form, Matt Rousseau, the creative figure behind the moniker had established himself in Orlando’s breakbeat scene under the name Vibal, creating energetic electronic tracks designed for crowded dancefloors and late-night club culture. While those productions revelled in momentum and intensity however, they ultimately became the starting point for a creative transformation that would lead him somewhere far more reflective.

When MatAre landed in 2020, it marked a complete shift in artistic perspective; the pulse of breakbeat gave way to slower, more immersive compositions where atmosphere became more about emotion. Guitar-driven arrangements, cinematic textures and a sense of melancholy replaced the euphoric rush of his earlier work, revealing an artist increasingly interested in memory, contemplation and the spaces between certainty and ambiguity. That development has continued to define the project over the past few years, with MatAre gradually assembling a sound that borrows from rock, post punk, new wave and ambient music.

His self-titled debut EP first introduced this new creative direction before the ideas expanded further across the 2023 album Patternicit and last year’s Extinction Burst. More recently, the four-track EP Brevity and the single “Dissolution” have demonstrated that the project continues to take on new shapes, expanding its emotional language while retaining the immersive atmosphere that’s become so recognisable as part of his sound.

Now MatAre returns once again with “Dancing With The Spirits,” a release that continues that artistic journey while introducing new collaborators and dimensions to his already expansive sonic world. The single channels the project’s familiar sense of haunting aesthetic but stretches its emotional reach through carefully chosen musical partnerships and intricatly layered production. Recorded and produced in Fort Myers, Florida, before being mixed by Los Angeles-based engineer Gabe Wolf, whose previous work includes collaborations with Kurt Vile and Middle Kids, the track allows spacious arrangements to breathe while maintaining a strong emotional focus throughout.

South African drummer Glenn Welman provides the rhythmic energy, bringing understated momentum to the song while Argentinian vocalist Denisse Ferrara introduces an entirely new texture through ethereal background vocals that drift through the bridge like distant echoes. Those ghostly vocal layers become one of the release’s most compelling moments, transforming that passage of the song into something almost otherworldly.

Set up by the shuffle of lively drums and plucks of lead guitar notes as shimmering synth textures flutter around the arrangement, the track slips into a steady momentum of pulsing rhythm as brooding vocals enter to stitch subtly eerie melodic threads into the consuming musical fabric. Capturing a darkwave-tinged, goth-inflected rock soundscape, the track rolls with uptempo energy and instantly memorable hooks as the blend of organic guitar tone and electronic aesthetic filters an 80s vibe through MatAre’s modern musical lens.

Anthemic, atmospheric and entirely energising, “Dancing With The Spirits” sees MatAre lay down another enthralling musical moment that’s sure to win over new and existing listeners around the world. It’s a spectacular display of his gripping songwriting as well as his collaborative spirit, resulting in another stellar addition to his growing catalogue of thoroughly compelling music.

Listen to Dancing With The Spirits below

More from Music

---

Editor Picks

---