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On Saturday local experimental music presenter Lampo opens its three-concert spring season at the Graham Foundation with the Chicago debut of Matt Carlson of Portland, Oregon, who’s perhaps slightly better known as half of the duo Golden Retriever (and a former member of Parenthetical Girls). Late last year Carlson released a solo stunner, Particle Language (Draft), which collected seven mind-warping analog-synthesizer excursions, occasionally enhanced by electronically treated vocals. In his work with Golden Retriever, who recently signed to Thrill Jockey and will make their Chicago debut opening for the Sea and Cake at the Empty Bottle on May 8, Carlson displays a strong melodic sensibility, shaping sweet-toned lines that swirl around Jonathan Sielaff’s heavily processed bass clarinet, but on his own he investigates more abstract terrain.
