Matron Deliver an Exciting Exercise in Math Rock » PopMatters

Matron’s Sunken State is such an enjoyable ride. It combines math rock’s complex, zig-zagging musical avenues with dream pop and plenty of good hooks.

Sunken State Matron Strange Daisy 4 April 2025

It can be disheartening to stumble upon a great band just as they’re folding, particularly a band like Matron, who just released their third and final EP. However, Sunken State is such an enjoyable ride, and it will undoubtedly inspire converts to check out their earlier releases, which combine the complex, zig-zagging musical avenues of math rock with a healthy dose of dream pop and plenty of good hooks.

Consisting of Bobby Burvant on guitar and vocals, Laura Fisher on keyboards and vocals, Jordan Bodzin on drums and Adam Keil on bass and omnichord, Matron, perhaps not surprisingly, formed out of the ashes of a King Crimson cover band, and while the complex guitar figures and unusual time signatures on Sunken State certainly takes the listener into Robert Fripp territory, the more punk-oriented sounds of bands like Pom Poko and Deerhoof are on display here as well (not surprising, because Fisher has collaborated with Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier).

Sunken State, available on vinyl, with their 2018 EP, Standing Water, on the B side, brings a sense of tunefulness to what would, in lesser hands, be a more sterile experience. Bodzin’s booming drums open the record’s first track, “Candice”, while Fisher’s vocals weave in and out of Burvant’s dizzying guitar work. “Let down / Dulled by euphoria,” Fisher sings over Keil’s driving bass lines. “Good cheer / Sadly contented and amused / Worn out and overqualified.”

Things get dreamier with the crunchy, ethereal “Peak” (a real showcase for Burvant), and on “Cumulus”, Matron seem to enjoy splitting the difference between woozy riffs and plenty of stop/start action from the rhythm section, straddling the lines of shoegaze and brainy art-rock. While math rock seems to be the genre most commonly referenced in the press with Matron, their style is delightfully eclectic, but never forcibly so; the subgenres blend in and out naturally.

Burvant and Fisher are essentially duetting on the throbbing, bass-heavy groove of “Proceed”, which sounds almost like a low-key version of the Pixies after spending a weekend bingeing King Crimson’s Discipline: pop/punk hooks and vocal melodies mesh seamlessly with atonal prog skronk. While that combination may not sound appealing on paper, the results are glorious.

Sunken State closes with “Roads”, which begins with an irresistible bass line and some funk-laced drums, eventually leading to more tightly controlled guitar wizardry and Fisher ending the song with the couplet “Far and further still / The memory becomes a thrill.” A nod to their swan song? Perhaps. One hopes that Sunken State is merely the beginning of a hiatus. Still, if this engaging quartet goes its separate ways, their future projects will likely be enjoyable. It’s a well-crafted farewell, but hopefully will lead to the beginning of something new.