On His New Album as Mattress, Rex Marshall Slouches Into Portland's Seedy Underbelly

[LOUNGE LIZARDRY] Since 2008-ish, Rex Marshall has been slumped over in the darkest corners of Portland, not so much stalking its seedy underbelly as just sort of drunkenly leaning into it. He treats his sonic alias, Mattress, literally—though more like a soiled Tempur-Pedic discarded in the alley of some dystopian metropolis than anything on which anyone could sleep soundly. Which is to say, Marshall's music has always alloyed lo-fi grit with electro-engineered precision and a crooner's confidence. But on latest release Looking For My People, the singer sounds more unhinged than ever. "Fuck the Future" lathers Coil's Horse Rotorvator with turpentine, somehow making industrial pop sound even more industrial, while album highlight "How Many Tears?" manages to make the idea of Nick Cave fronting This Heat seem genius. Not all of it is '80s goth detritus, though: The titular mantra of "Shake" slows a Death Grips-esque screech 1,000 percent, and the album's title track briefly switches souls with David Bowie's Blackstar swan song. Woozy, desperate, hobbled and hilarious, Looking For My People is the endlessly listenable soundtrack to an apocalypse experienced atop a leopard-print bar stool in the oldest dive bar in Vegas. It's not quite real, but it's absolute magic.

SEE IT: Mattress plays Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., with Coronation and Dommengang, on Friday, July 1. 9 pm. $5. 21+.

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