The idea of these songs is a rag-tag bunch of settlers in 1820 or thereabouts, corralling their carts for the night and singing songs. A few have guitars, a consumptive child plays violin, and someone else has an early version of garageband. They are sitting around the fire, ever more drunk and maudlin. The next day they're butchered to a man, by Apaches or some stray pack of soldiers on the escape from a Cormac McCarthy book. 

The grand plan is for other people to sing and play on these songs, to stealthily build some of them up to full orchestra and choir. Some songs seem to work recorded drunkenly with one guitar, whereas others seem to ache for sweeping strings and four part harmonies, like Gustav Mahler with a cowboy hat on.

Louise Riley, Veronica Thompson, Rasp Thorne and Shimrit Elisar have been the first to come wandering in barefoot and wild-eyed out of the vast imaginary emptiness and stand close to the fire for a couple of songs apiece. There is also some beautiful fiddle on a few tracks, played by Sophie Loyer. Nicola Cunningham sang and played glockenspiel at a recent live show. Sarah Gill has played most impressive cello on some of the songs.

Photo by Karla Da Silva

DJ since 1994 - Eclectic Styles with a great love for Soul, Funk, Jazz, Reggae, Electronic Sounds and much more...

Matt Berry was always convinced that, should he be lucky enough to avoid getting a ‘normal’ job, he would be a musician. His life would follow a certain path which, whilst not obviously attractive to most, would have seen him be ‘in a number of bands that would get dropped by the record company.’. So far it hasn’t quite turned out like that at all. 

‘Witchazel’ announced Berry as a writer of some distinction, MOJO praising an album ‘coming from a place of real eccentricity and imagination’, The Guardian finding the whole thing ‘genuinely impressive’,The Times declaring Matt a ‘multi-instrumental pysch-folk genius’  and Q summing it up neatly for the newcomers as ‘the sound of the Fleet Foxes had they grown up within earshot of the M25’.

Followers of Matt Berry