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"From out of the dark"

From Out Of The Dark

From out of the dark is a collection of 6 songs finished during the infamous Covid lockdown of 2020, drawing musical influences from many different genres and based on different themes close to my heart.

Some with a narrative, others about how I felt a particular junction in life, playing music, writing and recording songs has been a great outlet for me and helped me deal with and express myself in a productive fashion.

With no single genre over the six songs I decided to put them out as From out of the dark, to show how something good can come from the darkness. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed making them.

I appreciate so much all the friends and family who have helped critique these tracks ready for public consumption. Thanks also to my younger sister, Hannah, for providing her vocal talents and lyric writing on two of the songs.

Please listen below and follow me on all of my social networks using the links above.

Matt x

#ZooCity by Lauren Beukes mini spoiler free review

Zoo CityZoo City by Lauren Beukes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Zoo City is set in a truly original world where a magical event causes people who are guilty of committing a grave crime become "Animalled" where they gain an animal familiar and an unusual magical talent.

Our lead character, Zizi December is a recovering addict and animalled resident of Zoo City; a slums area where the animalled are cast to away from main society. Her strange skill is her unique ability to find lost things. Not stolen, but lost, able to sense a thread of connection between a lost object and it's person and vice versa.

She is recruited by the lackys of a famous music manager to help find one of his lost up and coming pop sensations. Amidst her investigations December is able to make connections between her case and other unusual murders of Animalled people, and she begins to uncover a twisted tale of murder, lies and magic.

Rather than spend the novel creating the universe that Zoo City is a part of, Beukes jumps straight into the story, which is broken up throughout by news excerpts, interviews and other additional pieces detailing the events that led the animalled situation as it stands. I really like this idea though the main story becomes a fairly normal investigation with the universe having no real impact on the plot (the idea of selling magi could be replaced with any contraband and have the same effect) and I feel more could've been done to relate the two.

There are some great action sequences throughout, and the conclusion is nail biting, but the actual plot of Zizi's investigation reaches a fairly unremarkable conclusion. The scene midway through with an exciting escape through the sewers I'm almost certain could have been omitted entirely without affecting the plot.

But, issues with the plot and story aside, I absolutely love the author's tone of voice. The level of detail about this grimy, grungy society and the magical ideas are truly fantastical and well thought out. It's just that they accompany a fairly run of the mill plot. A strange one where the story is okay, but the whole book is very, very good. Worth it for fans of Pullman who want something grittier to get into. Fans of Rivers of London and other fantasy/crime mash ups will find something to like here.



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