In my experience there are generally three kinds of album. The first, and most commonly encountered, is the one that has little musical merit. The second, and less ubiquitous, is one that has good songs and forms a combined piece. The third and final is the most rare of all. That is, the album made from good songs that have immense individual merit, but have no flow and lack the synergy to make it memorable. From opener "Intro" it becomes apparent that Matter + Form is one of the latter.
VNV Nation haven't managed to make a coherent record since Empires dropped in 1999, with Matter + Form created by the same architectural process as 2002's Futureperfect. It is based around the same foundation of individually strong songs that don't work well as a part of something bigger and that suffer from placement alongside digressions into what can only to exist to prove a point about the mass of influences present. It is, in fact, the enormity of bases that this album attempts to cover that conspires to bring it down. Simply put, too many sounds have gone into it, leaving starkly obvious discrepancies that prevent songs from working well together. Both more futurepop and less, progressive and regressive, it is these contradictions that render any concepts of flow redundant.
Following the unnecessary and inexcusably long foreword, "Chrome" introduces a harsh and densely layered wall of synths underlined by a hard beat. Yet it runs straight into the much slower "Arena," reminiscent of "Holding On" from the previous offering and built mostly from a single stratum of bass and treble keys. Considering that the pace and constitution of individual songs seldom changes, such massive variations in style, speed and timbres cause the album to arbitrarily leap from one sound to another without necessity or justification.
It's a pity that Matter + Form doesn't seem designed to be listened to as a whole. As with Futureperfect, it does contain some of VNV's most complete and enjoyable work to date. The soft piano lines and string section in "Colours of Rain" adds a gentle touch to the early part of the album that is individually spectacular. Conversely, the penultimate song "Lightwave" picks up the pace superbly and mixes a heavy club beat with high synth keys occasionally breaking through the barrier of noise that the bulk of the song presents. In saying that, both of these songs are instrumentals.
Considering that words have formed one of the most impressive traits in the back catalogue, as well as the quasi-pretentious blurb on the website ("The lyrics draw on philosophy, literature, art, politics and different forms of symbolism.") the lyrics, (or lack of, as it may be) have a tendency to disappoint. It is a pity to see Ronan Harris opting for simple and obvious rhymes ("I cannot turn my feelings down / beyond my means to turn my thoughts around" on "Arena") and an increased proportion of instrumentals, including a chain of three. Perhaps symptomatic of a songwriter, or at least a lyricist, running out of ideas, this series only succeeds in further breaking down flow and splitting the album into three definable sections, none of which seem to belong to the same assemblage, and none of which seem to have any means of connection.
Indeed, it seems this shortage of ideas that is the lasting impression one gets from this album. Sonically, while spliced with a wider expanse of influences, the most basic sounds on Matter + Form are seldom something that VNV Nation haven't already presented. Too often, it tends to drift off into nostalgia, with certain tracks seeming almost as if written to be sequels to what has come before. The concluding song "Perpetual" could easily be an extension of "Airships," and the second of the three instrumentals, "Strata" continues where "Electronaut" left off.
Despite how it may seem, I haven't meant to draw a negative picture, per se. The album isn't unlistenable, or worthless, and for any other band may be considered a career defining magnum opus. But, for a band of VNV Nation's stature and ability, this is not quite the triumphant return one would have expected. There are undeniably many wonderful moments that make this album worth picking up, however, the sad fact is that the existence of many of these songs within the draconian bounds of an album, or at least, this album, does not do them the justice they deserve. A fair reflection on the fact that Matter + Form itself serves justice neither to the band, nor to the song-writing abilities of Ronan Harris.
