Matthew Dear

When Mr. Dear is not being his beats 'n' bits Audion self, he becomes, well, a rock singer, and it rather suits him. With a vocal style somewhere between Nick Cave and David Byrne, he blends live and electronic instrumentation together into an electro-pop crossover that occupies similar high-quality territory as Hot Chip and Junior Boys. The music is cool, smart and hypnotically groovy, with layer upon layer of synth arpeggios and beats and bleeps backing acoustic guitars, contrasting neatly with his moody vocals.