The beginning of a new college semester and new musical discoveries -- now that's a combination to rival brownies and lemonade. It seems like every time my stomach lurches due to the impending doom of textbooks and midterms, I learn about a new band whose music lessons the blow of "going back." My final semester at SOSU began a couple weeks ago, coinciding perfectly with my discovery of Antimatter, an Irish/English 'ambient/trip-hop' band.

A friend of mine had mentioned Antimatter's music a couple times and my interest was peaked; some time passed, and after I read something to the effect of "Lights Out is a great album to listen to, provided that you're not contemplating suicide." Though I am not always a pessimistic person, I find that a large percentage of the most beautiful music comes from sadness. Any time I hear about a good band that can be best described as bleak, I'm all the more eager to check them out. And with song titles like "Everything You Know Is Wrong" and "The Art of a Soft Landing," anyone who handles a copy of Lights Out can come to a quick and easy conclusion that this is not a release for those wanting to be cheered up.

Lights Out saw release in 2003. It is the second album in Antimatter's catalog, and it is among their most well-received works to date. It is quite a brief album, clocking in at only 49:51, but its somber tone leaves a much longer lasting impact on listeners; at the risk of sounding a bit melodratic, I will say it's the type of album you should listen to in the dark, lying as still as you possibly can. Motionless...absorbing the weighty emotions.
"Lights Out" opens with a noise that can best be compared to that of an ambulance siren. There is very little musical accompaniment to the whispering voices of Mick Moss and Hayley Windsor, only a soft and spare touch of desolate-sounding piano and the occasional peaceful acoustic guitar melody intertwined with some strange, electronic 'ahhh' effects. I should note that there isn't really a completely consistent 'voice' of Antimatter; though Moss sings on five of Lights Out's eight tracks, things tend to alternate every once in a while.

"The Art of a Soft Landing" throws back to opening track "Lights Out," fading in and out with withering, 'clicky' noises of ambience. Once again, the Moss/Windsor vocals are performed in the closest possible thing to a simple whisper. However this song culminates in a blood-curdling, agonizing scream; to listen to it and not be affected in some way is something I can't imagine.

"Everything You Know Is Wrong" is pensive and positively full to the brim with sadness. The central point of the song is Moss' voice, and it positively aches. Effective backing vocals come once more from Ms. Windsor in the song's chilling chorus. Much in the vein of its title, "Dream" will evoke feelings of insomnia. That said, it may be the closest thing Lights Out has to 'accessible,' with a strong vocal melody courtesy of one Michelle Richfield. The lyrics here are as despondent as ever:

Immersed in light, broken in flight
Here comes that scene again
Not another sleepless night...

I'd say it's pretty clear that Antimatter is not a band for those who aren't into dark, trippy, sad music. I will also say that it's not easy to tag these guys down into a specific genre. Some call them darkwaves, others prefer the term 'trip-hop.' Often the music on the album is so genuinely sparse that it's hard to call it anything other than 'depressing.' Either way, it's almost relaxing in a way; the perfect album to listen to on a rainy day when you've got nowhere to go. I have a lot of mundane, lengthy reading assignments this semester, and Lights Out is the perfect album to play in the background. I readily recommend it to anyone who finds solace in music that dabbles in all that is ambient and cheerless.