Echo Beach

You can hear Julie Matson on the airwaves in daylight hours on CJLO hosting “With Gay Abandon.” Once the sun goes down, however, the signal changes into the electronic drone sounds of Echo Beach, her synth-heavy solo endeavour.

“They have the same flavour,” says Matson of her radio show and musical project. “I don’t play simply synth-based music [on “With Gay Abandon”], but definitely in that experimental vein for sure.”

Echo Beach is an act of juxtaposition, a meditative ambience placed against harsher sounds, wrapping the listener in their own cocoon of layered vocals over analogue and digital modules.

The Link caught up with Matson on one of the first sub-zero nights of the season—luckily in a heated location. Her spacey take on the old Depeche Mode song “Photographic” ricocheted off the walls of a downtown parking garage like aural springboards.

“That particular song is really special [to me],” says Matson. “Depeche Mode has been my favourite band since the age of 10. When I heard it I became obsessed with it. I was like, ‘How do they make that music?’

“I taught myself how to play keyboards in grade nine because I bought a Depeche Mode songbook.”

Her take on “Photographic” is a murky mood-setter.

“I want to take you to that place where you think about things that happened for you, or have happened to you, it sort of takes you a journey somewhere else while still being in the same room,” she said.

“Visuals are telling you a story, but music takes you where you can go, and I hope that’s what my music does to people.” - Colin Harris - The Link - Live Sessions

You can hear Julie Matson on the airwaves in daylight hours on CJLO hosting “With Gay Abandon.” Once the sun goes down, however, the signal changes into the electronic drone sounds of Echo Beach, her synth-heavy solo endeavour.

“They have the same flavour,” says Matson of her radio show and musical project. “I don’t play simply synth-based music [on “With Gay Abandon”], but definitely in that experimental vein for sure.”

Echo Beach is an act of juxtaposition, a meditative ambience placed against harsher sounds, wrapping the listener in their own cocoon of layered vocals over analogue and digital modules.

The Link caught up with Matson on one of the first sub-zero nights of the season—luckily in a heated location. Her spacey take on the old Depeche Mode song “Photographic” ricocheted off the walls of a downtown parking garage like aural springboards.

“That particular song is really special [to me],” says Matson. “Depeche Mode has been my favourite band since the age of 10. When I heard it I became obsessed with it. I was like, ‘How do they make that music?’

“I taught myself how to play keyboards in grade nine because I bought a Depeche Mode songbook.”

Her take on “Photographic” is a murky mood-setter.

“I want to take you to that place where you think about things that happened for you, or have happened to you, it sort of takes you a journey somewhere else while still being in the same room,” she said.

“Visuals are telling you a story, but music takes you where you can go, and I hope that’s what my music does to people.” - Colin Harris - The Link - Live Sessions

You can hear Julie Matson on the airwaves in daylight hours on CJLO hosting “With Gay Abandon.” Once the sun goes down, however, the signal changes into the electronic drone sounds of Echo Beach, her synth-heavy solo endeavour.

“They have the same flavour,” says Matson of her radio show and musical project. “I don’t play simply synth-based music [on “With Gay Abandon”], but definitely in that experimental vein for sure.”

Echo Beach is an act of juxtaposition, a meditative ambience placed against harsher sounds, wrapping the listener in their own cocoon of layered vocals over analogue and digital modules.

The Link caught up with Matson on one of the first sub-zero nights of the season—luckily in a heated location. Her spacey take on the old Depeche Mode song “Photographic” ricocheted off the walls of a downtown parking garage like aural springboards.

“That particular song is really special [to me],” says Matson. “Depeche Mode has been my favourite band since the age of 10. When I heard it I became obsessed with it. I was like, ‘How do they make that music?’

“I taught myself how to play keyboards in grade nine because I bought a Depeche Mode songbook.”

Her take on “Photographic” is a murky mood-setter.

“I want to take you to that place where you think about things that happened for you, or have happened to you, it sort of takes you a journey somewhere else while still being in the same room,” she said.

“Visuals are telling you a story, but music takes you where you can go, and I hope that’s what my music does to people.” - Colin Harris - The Link - Live Sessions

You can hear Julie Matson on the airwaves in daylight hours on CJLO hosting “With Gay Abandon.” Once the sun goes down, however, the signal changes into the electronic drone sounds of Echo Beach, her synth-heavy solo endeavour.

“They have the same flavour,” says Matson of her radio show and musical project. “I don’t play simply synth-based music [on “With Gay Abandon”], but definitely in that experimental vein for sure.”

Echo Beach is an act of juxtaposition, a meditative ambience placed against harsher sounds, wrapping the listener in their own cocoon of layered vocals over analogue and digital modules.

The Link caught up with Matson on one of the first sub-zero nights of the season—luckily in a heated location. Her spacey take on the old Depeche Mode song “Photographic” ricocheted off the walls of a downtown parking garage like aural springboards.

“That particular song is really special [to me],” says Matson. “Depeche Mode has been my favourite band since the age of 10. When I heard it I became obsessed with it. I was like, ‘How do they make that music?’

“I taught myself how to play keyboards in grade nine because I bought a Depeche Mode songbook.”

Her take on “Photographic” is a murky mood-setter.

“I want to take you to that place where you think about things that happened for you, or have happened to you, it sort of takes you a journey somewhere else while still being in the same room,” she said.

“Visuals are telling you a story, but music takes you where you can go, and I hope that’s what my music does to people.” - Colin Harris - The Link - Live Sessions

Named after arguably the best Canadian song of all time, Montreal’s Echo Beach makes very droney dark electronic pop. Here she is covering Depeche Mode’s “Photographic” for the Concordia Link. While we’re at it, we should really share this Modern Lovers cover she did as well, taken from the Drywall EP from back in January. - www.silentshout.ca

Named after arguably the best Canadian song of all time, Montreal’s Echo Beach makes very droney dark electronic pop. Here she is covering Depeche Mode’s “Photographic” for the Concordia Link. While we’re at it, we should really share this Modern Lovers cover she did as well, taken from the Drywall EP from back in January. - www.silentshout.ca

First up was a sole, soft-spoken lady who goes by the moniker Echo Beach. Her set was accompanied by her pedals, sound pad, quietly reverberating hums, and the most soothing fuzzed-out visuals of a lake surrounded by mountains. Having previously listened to her music on Bandcamp, I was somewhat surprised by how tame her live set was, but it didn’t disappoint in any way. Echo Beach could probably be filed somewhere under “ambient experimental noise/drone”, then again, I’m horrible at categorizing. Either way, her set was lovely and her sweet personality was definitely an enjoyable plus. She’d finished her set with a cover of Modern Lovers, for heaven’s sake, what’s not to like! - Sarve - The Main

First up was a sole, soft-spoken lady who goes by the moniker Echo Beach. Her set was accompanied by her pedals, sound pad, quietly reverberating hums, and the most soothing fuzzed-out visuals of a lake surrounded by mountains. Having previously listened to her music on Bandcamp, I was somewhat surprised by how tame her live set was, but it didn’t disappoint in any way. Echo Beach could probably be filed somewhere under “ambient experimental noise/drone”, then again, I’m horrible at categorizing. Either way, her set was lovely and her sweet personality was definitely an enjoyable plus. She’d finished her set with a cover of Modern Lovers, for heaven’s sake, what’s not to like! - Sarve - The Main

[Next] I went over to the Mile-End’s Royal Phoenix bar to see Echo Beach do her ambient, experimental, pedal-madness magic. You won’t have a choice but to forget about your anxiety problems with her almost therapeutic, aquatic sounds, that pack just enough bite to keep you entranced in the set. She finished her set with a really cool, extended version of a Morrissey song. - Sarve - The Main

[Next] I went over to the Mile-End’s Royal Phoenix bar to see Echo Beach do her ambient, experimental, pedal-madness magic. You won’t have a choice but to forget about your anxiety problems with her almost therapeutic, aquatic sounds, that pack just enough bite to keep you entranced in the set. She finished her set with a really cool, extended version of a Morrissey song. - Sarve - The Main