Lights Out

It seems like only yesterday that Antimatter released their excellent Saviour debut, and one would be forgiven for worrying that perhaps this may not be enough time for the group to replenish their creative juices and come up with a similarly inspired batch of songs. But, chances are, most observers will agree that 2003's speedily recorded Lights Out is a more than acceptable follow-up — better even — depending on your personal likes and dislikes in regards to Antimatter's understated, but varied combination of sounds. Where Saviour tended to highlight the techno/electronic/dub elements of the Mick Moss/Duncan Patterson songwriting partnership (these two being the creative duo behind Antimatter), Lights Out focuses on their more organic and acoustic tendencies. The haunted opening tandem of the title track and "Everything You Know Is Wrong" set the morose tone, only gradually relinquishing their sparse, ‘less is more' philosophy to make way for additional instrumentation (heavy guitars, synths, programmed beats) and the dulcet vocals of returning sirens Hayley Windsor and Michelle Richfield. Perhaps the album's most fully realized examples of this majestic cold-fusion of sound, both "Expire" and "In Stone" would serve as wonderful singles, were it not for their prohibitive eight-minute running times. Richfield's bewitching voice dominates the former, as well as subsequent standout "Dream," but Moss and Patterson clearly remain Antimatter's phantoms-in-charge, bringing Lights Out full circle with the ghostly ending that is the instrumental "Terminal."