WRITING

I recently acquired an MOTM-480 filter, and this is the initial result. 
Recorded with an analog modular synthesizer.

Agnus Dei (Thomas Morley)

Vapor Trail from a Paper Plane is my first full-length collection of all original material. I’ve made a couple strictly classical records, but this project is a messy hodgepodge of musical influences—American mostly. There’s a string quartet in “Roadside Attraction” and a modified Bluegrass lineup in “Old Chuck Flynn”. I tried to let the songs dictate the arrangements and didn’t worry too much about sticking to one genre or another, which led to some surprising and often rewarding collaborations. Double-bass and mandolin wunderkind Erik Alvar contributed to four tracks, the amazing Coreopsis Wind Quintet sat in on “Cicadas at the Equinox”, Paul Petrucelli added some wonderfully oddball clarinet lines to “Mama is a Big Girl”, and I was fortunate to be able to call on the crack team of Natasha Peliska, Laurel Yu, and Marcos Vives for string parts. These were fun sessions with super-talented musicians, augmented by the remarkable sound engineer Pete Winter, the Man With the Golden Ears. Art design provided yet another inspiring collaboration. I sent the rough tracks to Shauna and Sarah Dodds, and Nancy Bell at Backstage Design Studio in Austin. They came up with some beautiful quirky images that really capture the spirit of the music (they also designed this website…pretty cool, huh?) 

The title Vapor Trail from a Paper Plane is a line I lifted from the album’s third track, “Old Chuck Flynn”. The line was originally a throwaway, but as other songs emerged, I began to recognize a few themes that reappear throughout the record. Turns out loss is a big one: missed opportunities, mixed signals, wasted youth…Most of the characters in these songs are lamenting something that either never was, or never could be. At times that makes them funny, other times tragic. I’ll let the listener determine which is which.

Oh, and for the guitar enthusiasts, there are two originals for solo guitar. You can buy the sheet music here. 

To download a copy of Vapor Trail from a Paper Plane, click here. If you’re really into iTunes or Amazon, pre-sale copies are available now, and should hit the streets Nov 15. You can stream the full record under the “Listen” tab on this page and on Spotify. 

We’re working on a bunch of live dates for Spring and Summer ‘14, some with the whole Vapor Trail Ensemble, some with a string quartet, and a few solo shows. Stay tuned for details. Thank you for listening—your support allows me to make more music!

Cheers,
Matt

Cicadas At The Equinox

Station 1 in a 14 part text/sound collaboration with visual artist and musician Kyle Peets titled Days Between Stations.

Station I: Mexico, IN

until it blazes (2001)
for any plucked or keyboard instrument and dual delay

Eve Beglarian (b. 1958) is an Armenian-American composer based in New York City. In *until it blazes* she creates a rich tapestry of textures from great economy of means, as the entire melodic content of the piece consists of only six notes. A gradual additive process is combined with shifting accenting patterns, allowing the emergence of floating "super melodies" from the repetitive background. The exact form of the piece is left to the performer; in this recording, I attempted to create a sense of urgency, as the activity in the piece accelerates until a final ignition and rapid combustion. 

Purchase Vinyl Album

Eve Beglarian: until it blazes

A short clip from a series of ambient pieces I'm working on called "scenes from an imaginary film"

the last firefly of summer, caught In a jar, then released

Aeolian Sunset Finger Picked Mp3

Rincon del cielo - IV. Total
Edie Hill
Gary Ruschman, tenor
Kristian Anderson, guitar

Rincon Del Cielo - IV. Total

From a recent concert; strings and harp only.

Gustav Mahler: Adagietto from Symphony #5

Australian musician/composer Anna Morley has teamed up with London based label Cult Classic Records to release her fourth album entitled “Treasure Pleasure” out Friday 17th via Bandcamp and will appear on Itunes, Spotify and other outlets over the coming week.  

You can preview two songs from the release via the Bandcamp: https://cultclassicrecords.bandcamp.com/album/treasure-pleasure

Anna Morley - Bruises Ft. Thomas Prime [2016]

Empire Of Light

Empire of Light

Ice Wing by Julia Crowe

Recorded at Uppåkra Church and edited by Martin Svensson. 
Produced by Machaut Machine and Martin Svensson. 
Ivan Moody is published by Vanderbeek & Imrie Ltd.

Let him kiss me

Tota pulchra es

John Plummer: Tota pulchra es

I wrote this piece initially for me to play on a tour with classical guitarist, Scott Morris and Jeff Young (formerly of Megadeth). After we performed for a year, Scott and I started performing with the great virtuoso/producer Julian Coryell (Leonard Cohen, Alanis Morissette). This recording was done with Scott and Julian at Julian's studio in Venice, CA
The initial idea of the tune was hocketed rhythmic figures which developed into melodic material with a syncopated groove.  Julian added looped guitar figures at the beginning to provide the "percussion".

And...yes...in retrospect...the title is not great..

Engineered by Erich Gobel

String Theory for 3 guitars by Steve Thachuk

Warhol Piano Quartet | Gustav Mahler - Piano Quartet in A minor (1876)

My setting of Josquin des Prez' Chanson "Mille Regretz" for four electric guitars and EBow. I have no good reason for doing this really, it's just a bad idea who's time had come. 

I played all the parts on my trusty American Telecaster through a variety of amps (Fender Blues Deluxe for the Bass, Vox AC15 for the middle voices, and Mashall DSL 20 for the Soprano, all mic'd with a blend of an SM57 and a Royer R10). I ran the bass through a Pitchfactor algorithm on an Eventide H9 and a Strymon Mobius for a hint of filtered fuzziness. For the Soprano part, I used a Mojo Hand Speakeasy Boost, Colossus Fuzz, and my favorite no-fuss reverb unit: the DigiTech Polara. For the middle voices, I used two channels of a Mojo Hand Odessa, and again through the DigiTech Polara.

Josquin des Prez-Mille Regretz (arr. for Four Electric Guitars and EBow)

Elastic Iridescence (3 electric guitars and 1 electric bass, 2006)
Performed by Guitar Quartet CATCH

Josquin des Prez-Mille Regretz (arr. for Four Electric Guitars and EBow)

Matthew Cochran

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