BUOY

Release date: February 28, 2025

‘Buoy’ is an album of patterns and ambiance for synthesizers and violin by composer, electronic musician and violinist, Matt McBane.

Press Coverage

“a stunning blend of neoclassical instrumentation and minimalist modular synth music”
- Bandcamp, New and Notable

“Matt McBane crafts vivid sonic landscapes through intricate patterns and fluid atmospheres on his latest album, Buoy. Synthesizers drift through gently propulsive rhythms, reshaping perspectives into nuanced moods and speculative reflections. Movement is at the heart of Buoy, with evolving sequences drawing emotional depth from shifting melodies and rich, tonal dreamscapes.

McBane expands the sonic palette with searing violin passages and delicate piano accents, making the music feel like a living, breathing entity. Within each track, small moments crystallize into dazzling shrines of possibility, as Buoy carves out its place in the cosmic expanse. It’s a stunning achievement.”
- Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis

“An adventurous and visionary composer, electronic musician and violinist, Matt McBane is one of the most exciting voices in contemporary music. Bridging the acoustic and electronic worlds in thrilling ways, his music engrosses you with its intricate patterns, lush soundscapes and emotional depth. His recent LP, Buoy, a record of patterns and ambiance for synthesizers and violin, is one of our favourite listens this year.”
- Cast the Dice

“Matt McBane calls his latest LP Buoy an album of “patterns and ambiance” which undersells how many of the tracks on the record are delightful, yet minimal, bops.”
“ebullient energy and motion shine through on every track.”
- Tylet McCauley, The Unskippables

“Beneath their deceptively minimalist airs, the nine tracks exude an underground power that drives everything forward, bridging the gap between a certain retro-futurism and a classicism with a sculpted contemporaneity. Highly recommended.”
- Roland Torres, Silence and Sound (translated from French)

“the manner in which it creates tension with the same notes as textures play up against each other is fascinating to listen to. “Apreggiator” is the best example of this, an eight-plus minute virtuosic exploration of violin against synths; the patterns move from three to four to five arpeggiated notes as the track builds dizzying tension that eventually wanes. […]the sublime tonal play of the two instruments makes you wish it swirled around for even longer.”
- Ray Finlayson, Beats Per Minute

“while it’s very much focused on synths, the acoustic instrumentation is combined in various lovely ways, like the limpid piano phrases glistening over the stuttering electronics on “Absence”, or the way McBane’s violin follows the synth arpeggios on ‘Arpeggiator’”
- Peter Hollo, Utility Fog

“In a delightful collision of genres, Matt McBane’s latest album, ‘Buoy’, merges electronic, classical, and ambient elements in a way that feels both innovative and timeless. […] what a captivating debut it is.”
- CF Smith, Twisted Soul Music

“Buoy is an ambitious work that explores new sonic territories, cementing Matt McBane’s reputation as an innovative artist at the intersection of minimalist classical music and contemporary electronica; not to be missed!”
- Ly Luan, Houz-Motik Magazine (translated from French)

“a thing of wonder”
“a fusion of the natural and the technological in a way that is as brainbreaking as it is remarkably simple”
- Evan Sawdey, Yardbarker

Stereogum: Albums of Note

Bandcamp: New and Notable

About Buoy

‘Buoy’ is an album of patterns and ambiance for synthesizers and violin by composer, electronic musician and violinist, Matt McBane.

It is his first primarily electronic album and first entirely solo album on which he plays a variety of analog synthesizers (modular and fixed), violin, piano and bass guitar, and manipulates it all in his computer. While this album marks a new development in McBane’s work, it is rooted in many of the same musical currents as his past music – the patterns and processes of classical minimalism, the sonic manipulation of electronic music, the elemental qualities of fiddle music, emotional nuance, cinematic space, counterpoint, atmosphere – all filtered through the voltages of his synthesizers.

It is the follow-up to his 2022 album on Cantaloupe Music for percussion and synthesizer, ‘Bathymetry’, called an album of the year by Wilco, an album of the month by Bandcamp, and “a musical and sensory journey like no other that has been offered in contemporary music recently” by Montreal’s Pan M 360.

Artist Statement

‘Buoy’ is an album of patterns and ambiance for synthesizers and violin. This project has its roots in a performance I gave as part of a concert curated by Laurie Anderson and Arto Lindsay at National Sawdust right before the pandemic hit and shortly before I found out my wife and I were having our first child. Developed over the subsequent 3 years, it is my first primarily electronic album and first entirely solo album.

On this album, I fully engage with my electronic influences whereas in the past, I often filtered these influences through novel techniques on acoustic instruments. I embrace the “bedroom producer” (well, actually basement) way of working, recording all the instruments myself at home. On the album, I play a variety of analog synthesizers (modular and fixed), violin, piano and a bit of bass guitar, and manipulate it all in my DAW. Many of the tracks are rooted in improvisation, whether it be on a modular synthesizer patch, or on my violin, interacting with a cheeky app on my phone. Others use strict mathematical processes that come alive in the performance on the synthesizers. After creating initial mixes myself, I then worked with the engineer and friend Joseph Branciforte to create final mixes and shape the overall album.

While this album marks a new development in my work, it is rooted in many of the same musical currents as my past music – the patterns and processes of classical minimalism, the sonic manipulation of electronic music, the elemental qualities of fiddle music, emotional nuance, cinematic space, counterpoint, atmosphere – all filtered through the voltages of my synthesizers. This new direction was further refined through my studies of electronic music at Princeton University during this period with Jeff Snyder, Tyondai Braxton and Dan Trueman while finishing my PhD in music composition.

Much of the album was conceived in the early months of the pandemic and shaped by that experience – the eerie and ominous weeks in Brooklyn with death tolls rising, sirens blaring, fear of what was to come, concern for our fellow New Yorkers; weeks of protesting in the streets; joyous long bike rides across town with my pregnant wife; a cross-country drive to see my grandmother in the days before she died; the anticipation of becoming a parent.

Credits:

Matt McBane: composition, production, recording, synthesizers, violin, piano, bass guitar

Piano recording engineer: Mike Cassedy at home
Mix engineer: Joseph Branciforte at greyfade studio
Master engineer: Paul Gold at Salt Mastering

Paintings: Nicole Schmölzer
Design: Matt McBane

With love to Emily, Isla and Callum