Though 2020 certainly proved to be a trying year at best, for many it was a chance to to spread their creative wings and explore avenues not yet walked down. This was exactly the case for Cheshire based songwriter Matthew Awbery, who channelled his lockdown frustrations into a brand new musical project.
The result Allées, a solo project that mines the murky depths of shoegaze and psychedelia, channelling the likes of The Black Angels, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Psychic Ills & Bad Liquor Pond.
The first taste of Awbery’s new project comes in the form of ‘Shooting Up’. Six minutes of sprawling shoegaze tinged psych that’s unnerving and as disconcerting as the year which gave the project birth.
Described by Awbery as being “inspired by the grip heroin has on people. I was watching a lot of documentaries at the time and became pretty intrigued with watching Pete Doherty writing on the walls in blood and that modern day squat-like aesthetic and how it’s become entwined with the classic image of a poet”, ‘Shooting Up’ harbours a narcotic wooziness all of its own, and though just the first taste of Allées material, like it’s inspiration it’s really rather moreish.