Matthew Dear

Texas-born Matthew Dear moved to Michigan as a teenager, then becoming inspired by the sound of Detroit Techno. Dear met Sam Valenti IV at a party while attending the University of Michigan, after which the two created the record label Ghostly Int

Texas-born Matthew Dear moved to Michigan as a teenager, then becoming inspired by the sound of Detroit Techno. Dear met Sam Valenti IV at a party while attending the University of Michigan, after which the two created the record label Ghostly International based on a shared love of electronic music. Dear’s first single was 1999’s Hands Up For Detroit – successive singles like Stealing Moves were issued on Spectral Sound, Ghostly’s dancefloor-based offshoot.

Dear’s first album Leave Luck to Heaven appeared in 2003 and was praised widely as a seminal fusion of pop and minimal techno. The album’s single Dog Days became one of Spectral’s best sellers and a favorite of international DJs like Richie Hawtin. Dear followed the album with Backstroke in 2004 and has also begun working under the harder-edged Audion alias, apart from additional monikers False and Jabberjaw.