Since releasing his Night.Rhetoric EP last fall, Toronto rapper Matthew Progress (formerly known as just Progress) has been quiet, plotting his return by reformulating his identity. A year later, he has revealed newfound inclination for experimenting with dark images and sounds—a departure from the sound of his previous work.
In the visual for his Sammy Rawal-directed new single "Oxygen," premiering above, Matthew Progress can be seen smearing paint over his hands and face, letting it illuminate the wispy strands of his beard. His entire face glows under black lights except for his eye sockets, shapeshifting into an otherworldly fluorescent green being. His voice deep and menacing, he raps over haunting whispers and samples of someone struggling to breathe: I'm a reaper in this club/ Let your body be the host.
"Oxygen is all about night energy and freedom of expression/identity," Matthew Progress told The FADER over email. "I felt like helping people explore and embrace their strange, dark side. We wanted the video to look like a hybrid of the opening scene of Belly and the performance art of Olivier de Sagazan."