During the COVID-19 global pandemic, music's ability to provide refuge was more vital than ever, and it was something
Deserta's
Matthew Doty both needed and provided. A nurse,
Doty worked grueling shifts on the pandemic's frontlines, then wrote and recorded what became
Every Moment, Everything You Need in the studio he set up in his family's two-bedroom apartment. However, his cramped creative quarters aren't apparent on
Deserta's second album; if anything, it sounds even bigger than his debut
Black Aura My Sun. To maximize the album's scope,
Doty brought in two experts of epic sonics:
Chris Coady engineered and co-produced
Every Moment, Everything You Need, while
Dave Fridmann mixed it (surprisingly, this is the first time the pair have worked on the same project). The layered depth of the album's sound is notable on tracks as different as the triumphant opener "Lost in the Weight," which echoes
Mogwai and
Slowdive in its soft-focus majesty, and "I'm So Tired," which represents the synth pop side of
Deserta's music with deceptively lively beats and keyboard motifs that push its reassuring melody forward. Drummer
James McAlister also helps
Every Moment, Everything You Need live up to the immediacy of its title on "A World Without," where his driving rhythms meld with the electronic percussion, synths, and guitars perfectly. Another guest,
Mice Parade's
Caroline Lufkin, contributes vaporous vocals to "Where Did You Go?," one of many times that the record gets lost in shoegaze bliss.
Doty's own voice is much more prominent than it was on
Black Aura My Sun, and so is the emotion on "Far from Over," which moves from brooding to urgent in a way that reflects the high-stakes feeling of the album as a whole. Though there are more standout moments like this and the tone-bent riff paradise of "It's All a Memory" than there were on
Doty's debut album,
Every Moment, Everything You Need always flows seamlessly, offering a more confident and sophisticated version of
Deserta's sound along the way. ~ Heather Phares
![[Untitled]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0190296132094_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "[Untitled]")
![Apple O' [20th Anniversary Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602309896799_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Apple O' [20th Anniversary Edition]")
![American Football [LP1]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0644110002518_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "American Football [LP1]")
![American Football [DLCD] [Deluxe] [Colored Vinyl]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0644110027610_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "American Football [DLCD] [Deluxe] [Colored Vinyl]")