Download VR Presents: It Is Rain In My Face (.zip file)!
Unassuming and quiet, Matt Jones, better known as It is Rain in My Face, approaches music with a humbleness that stems from an appreciation of a wide range of creative mediums. Influenced by a spectrum of rock, visual art, video game music, movie scores, and jazz, Jones experiments and dives into a wide range of sound. It’s rare to find someone who describes themselves as both “folk” and “psychoactive”, and rarer still to have those be appropriate headings. Far too often the term “experimental” is used as a euphemism for underdeveloped, unplanned, or undefined music—and while of course “It is Rain in My Face” is always in the process of growing as an artist, these tracks do not suffer from such ill effects. Instead, each track is mature and developed, experimental perhaps in style, but not in production.
Jones’s impressionistic style is a product of both his musical talents (guitar, piano, drums, banjo, harmonica, violin) and his goal to create a “musical soup” of sorts, focusing on sounds, textures and melodies rather than lyrics. It is the texture of the vocals that matter, rather than the definition of the lyrics: the ever-present mountain roar, becoming woven into the song rather than isolated above the rest of the mix. “Quarter Out Malone” and “Better Sky” both make use of this dynamic vocal layering, using changes in vocal timbre to guide the development of the song. Instead of choruses defined by a certain repeated lyric, the blurring and deconstructing of words help avoid the all-too-common verse-bridge-chorus (repeat) song structure. 
It may come as a surprise that someone fascinated by linguistics and the origins of languages strides to avoid lyrics, but It is Rain in My Face takes this interest to another level, or as he explains it:
“From looking at different languages throughout the world, it’s interesting to see how there are different sounds and combinations of sounds that seem to primordially evoke different feelings. With my music sometimes, I don’t even try to sing actual words, just random, subconsciously-spouted syllables that seem to evoke some kind of emotion.”
And it is this emotion that helps make his music so accessible, an indicator of success. Music created with unexpected or “experimental” instruments and effects often alienates the listener, pushing them away with a wall of indigestible noise. Many of the tracks are built from sweeping electro-rush waves and decays, but their flow and development is smooth, guiding the ear rather than assaulting it with the sharp tones and beeps which lead to the downfall of many electronic experiments.
Jones describes the development and aesthetic of these songs as revealing and different from his usual approach:
“..the development of these songs came about as the result of my personal relationship with the people I play music with…(it) is a little more reflective of my being from a very rural area in the south…muddy, swampy, and a little twangy, and it seems to be more derivative of my interest in early blues, country, and bluegrass music.
Again avoiding one of the most common electronic pitfalls, It in Rain in My Face has an organic feel to his songs, creating something alive and growing, layer upon layer. Rather than stacking layers of effects to create an oppressive tower of sound, It is Rain in My Face breaks each element of the songs down, smoothing each layer and instrument together as if rubbing pastels together with the palm of his hand.
So listen to these tracks, and listen to them again, slowly becoming encompassed in the swirling world without an end of It is Rain in My Face.
And then, come to show at the Local 506 on Wednesday, December 2nd to see It is Rain in My face live.
