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

Empire Of Light

Empire of Light

Ice Wing by Julia Crowe

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

Steve Reich’s 1987 Electric Counterpoint brilliantly established the electric guitar within an art music context.  Reich originally imagined the piece performed by a single guitarist playing over a prerecorded track consisting of up to 10 guitars and 2 bass guitars. A version for guitar ensemble also exists with all parts performed live. First recorded by Pat Metheny on the 1989 Nonesuch release “Different Trains,” Electric Counterpoint has been performed, recorded, rerecorded and sampled enough that, even if you don’t know the piece, you probably kind of know the piece. I’ve performed Electric Counterpoint a few times using Pat Metheny’s backing track but I’ve always had a yen to make my own version. I found the experience of learning and recording all the parts profoundly inspiring. As an unapologetic gearhead, I also relished in the opportunity of deciding which guitar paired best with which amp, microphone, etc. for every part.*

Guitarist David Tannenbaum worked closely with Steve Reich while adapting the composer’s 1994 Nagoya Marimbas for two guitars. Tannenbaum’s recording features two classical guitars, but with some minor technical adaptations, Nagoya Guitars becomes an idiomatic gem for two electric guitars. 

For the very first release on my own Bend Records label, I performed all the parts, produced, mixed and mastered the project myself.

*Performing guitarists: I would be delighted to share my recording of Electric Counterpoint without the live guitar track. Please contact me for details.

Reich - Electric Counterpoint 1 - Fast

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

Reich - Electric Counterpoint 1 - Fast

Matthew Cochran

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