Eric Matthews albums are meant to be absorbed over time. As a classically trained musician who plays every instrument here from piano to strings to brass, Matthews layers his sound to create a warm blanket of melody and countermelody until the weave is seamless and all-encompassing. It can also create a smothering effect if you’re accustomed to pop songs with the hook front and center. Instead, Matthews sings in hushed melodrama, adding and subtracting voices for eerie effect. Drum loops and synthesizers join the acoustic instruments and the effect is hardly modern. Instead, an odd balance is maintained where neither classical nor pop music is directly addressed. The songs are compact but their musical ambitions look back centuries. Or else you can imagine what a solo album by an orchestral arranger for folk or pop albums — the Zombies Odessey and Oracle, Nick Drake Five Leaves Left — might invent without the usual guidelines to follow. The strings give off a somber effect, but the title track is positively upbeat. Mathews is an acquired taste worth acquiring.