I admit, I didn’t listen to Matt Stevens previous works and quite honestly, I’m kind of “scared” of instrumental rock music because generally speaking it’s quite predictable and boring. Obviously this is not a “politically (or ethically) correct” supposition, but still, don’t matter how sad it is, it’s still true. Well, Matt seems to be very determined to prove me otherwise and listen to “Relic”, his third and latest solo release, I had the surprise to discover that we think and feel in very similar ways about music even if we came from and we’re chosen to go down on different paths. And there’s another fact too: I hate guitar solos as well, because – again, generally speaking – they are nothing, but tasteless fill-ups and egocentric showing-ups. Last, but not at least, I defies genres. There’s nothing stupider than imprisoning yourself in some particular box. And Matt Stevens defies genres as well, his music is colorful, borderless and ageless, breathing and very alive, spacy and intense, subtle and powerful. The bottom line is that Matt delivering music and not only some “musical product” or some “background noise for a few moments of our life”. Matt plays straight from his heart to our soul. Matt’s play seems effortless and joyful, playful and still profound, very expressive. Much more, you can download even for free – “name your price” – “Relic” from Matt’s Bandcamp page,
but as he said: “You choose how much you pay, we want to keep doing this but its expensive. The decision is yours. Thanks very much :)” – and I can assure you, Matt’s music worth every penny. Musician and composer from North London, his music has been compared with artists as diverse as Radiohead and Robert Fripp. Using an acoustic guitar and a sampler, he creates multi-layered tracks, open up a door to another universe where styles and genres are melting into one. Referring to genres, Matt said: “Unfortunately I don’t fit in. Too many solos for Post Rock, not enough for Progressive. Too much improvisation for Rock, not enough for Jazz.” And as I said, you should listen his music with your soul – take it outside the box.
And I made up my mind and I will not write a classic review, I will not analyses and dissect this album song by song, I won’t make an autopsy on a very breathing and alive material, but I will sit back and fully enjoy it. Only can recommend you to do the same. 🙂
Up to date he has released 3 albums: “Echo” in 2008, “Ghost” in 2010 and “Relic” in 2011 . His music has been a “word of mouth” success thanks to the support of hundreds of bloggers and podcasters and
his albums have been downloaded over 4000 times. Matt also plays guitar in the instrumental rock band The Fierce And The Dead.
Matt Stevens – Official Site
Matt Stevens – Blogspot
Matt Stevens @ Bandcamp
Matt Stevens @ Facebook
