I swooned the first time I heard Matt Otto showcase his new composition "Rachel". The second time felt equally momentous. Having spent three weeks with Otto’s sublime new album Ephemeral, “Rachel” now plays on repeat in my head.
Ephemeral’s other seven selections are almost as insinuating. “Twilight,” a track with an exquisite guitar solo by Alex Frank, is similarly gorgeous. Frank, bassist Jeff Harshbarger and drummer John Kizilarmut sound like world-beaters on “Elliot” and “Wadada.”
Andrew Ouellette’s dreamy keyboards help make “Scroll” sound anything but doom-laden. Eddie Moore’s freaky keyboard work enhances the haunting “Sobule.” Amid a large cast of Kansas City and Los Angeles musicians, Otto, as always, plays impeccably.
Yet it’s the addition of Peter Schlamb’s plugged-in vibraphone on the title track and “Dune Town” that makes Ephemeral the probable Kansas City album of the year. Far from ephemeral, Otto’s tour de force is a permanent marker of the best Kansas City has to offer in 2026.