Exclusive: Stream Pink Matter's debut EP with a track-by-track walkthrough

The Brisbane neo-soul four-piece channel acts like The Internet on their debut EP Human Error, which arrives ahead of a handful of east coast shows.

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It's hard not to be caught up in the woozy flow of Pink Matter. The Brisbane-based four-piece are delightfully smooth and sultry, channelling names like The Internet and Hiatus Kaiyote with their soulful R&B sound – perfectly demonstrated on their debut EP Human Error. Officially out on Friday but exclusively premiering on Pilerats today, Human Error is a five-track exploration of their masterful sound that adds a modern twist to an otherwise quite traditional genre, layering the soulful, yet quite bouncy and playful vocals of frontwoman Kerry Raywood with these stripped-back, percussion-driven productions that almost melt underneath Raywood's twisting top line.

For a band still quite young in their career release-wise, Human Error oozes with the maturity and slick that you'd expect from some of the genre's more heavily acclaimed international frontrunners. No matter whether it's the slight groove in many of the EP's down-tempo, jazz-infused instrumentals or the warm and comforting vocal that glides over the top, every single track on Human Error is an unexpected masterclass in bringing a traditional genre into the future – which is definitely not an easy task. It certainly places Pink Matter as an act that should be on your 'one to watch' lists, and with launch shows, BIGSOUND appearances and other dates coming over the next few months, there's no better time than now to jump on the Pink Matter train.

Stream the full EP below with a track-by-track walkthrough of its inner-themes and creation, and be sure to catch them on tour over August/September – current dates at the end of this article.

DOPE

There are so many stories behind Dope. At one stage we wanted to rename it to Gone, but the only name that stuck with us was its working title. It was originally written as an instrumental and was used as an introduction to our live set, but we enjoyed playing so much that we decided to flesh it out and finish it. During the songwriting process, our intention was to create something a bit grittier and grimier than our other songs at the time. It was a lot of experimenting, and we think writing Dope really opened a door for our sound and us as a band.

It was our first time exploring thick textures and then flipping the song on its head and juxtaposing sections. We took a lot of inspiration from the song GLOWED UP by Kaytranada and Anderson. Paak, and to this day it’s still one of our favourites to play.

JUDGEMENT

A song written in 2016 and one of our first babies! Ripped and pulled apart many a time, Judgement finally settled in the week of recording (2018). Originally written to be our most upbeat track, Judgement paved the path to finding our signature sound through angular chordal textures and shifty bass lines. To us, this song would make no sense if it weren’t for the flow of the vocals. We took extra care to set up an instrumental foundation that would carry the storytelling aspect of the song. We loved exploring different techniques chordally and rhythmically and ending up with a complex, intriguing end product.

CLEO

Cleo - the single that fronts our EP, Human Error. Of the five, easily our most mysterious track, and one of the most special to us. It explores a mood. The lyrical description of an unobtainable figure and is supported by music that moves in jagged ways to create a fuzzy and gritty sound. Sonically, Cleo was our first introduction to tremolo and the use of a telephone mic. Production-wise, we also paid particular attention to creating a live drum sound – we wanted the song to feel real. The disjointed and hard-hitting groove stabilises this song for vocals, keys and bass to melt over, and we’re incredibly proud of how far it’s come since its inception.

GIANT

A journey of the unexpected. A song written in separate sections and in very separate settings over a long period of time. It was by this time that we had gaged the flow of our writing and came to a realisation that this EP was an exploration of sectioned writing – something that has become very prominent in our style and sound as a band. Giant is a track that keeps getting flipped to explore whichever wonky rhythmical idea had sparked in one of the writing sessions. This track certainly jumps universes and we look forward to taking you on this trip with us.

HOW DO I

This song sees the EP out as a relaxing end to an intricately created cluster. Intentionally written to be the most pleasantly numbing of tracks, How Do I is a song that follows a loop. Now for us, this was quite the challenge, but one that needed to be set. After much exploring, How Do I settles our little minds like a lullaby. With minimal chordal movement and rhythmical change, this song relies heavily on the vocals to tell the story. Hidden within the lyrics is a beautiful story that is also carried by glossy, warm instrumental tones. This is our soft-eyed baby and as we like to think, the direct counter-track to the intense, dark Cleo.