The Calm Before
As we are now celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of
The Third Eye Foundation's Semtex, one of the most influential
drum & bass albums of its time, it is worthwhile revisiting the
career of Matt Elliott, its composer. Matt was not even 16 while he
decided to stop his studies to devote himself to his passion for
music, getting a job at the famous Revolver records shop, and
deejaying in Bristol clubs he wasn't legally allowed to enter at this
age.
Then, and before this press release becomes too boring, we can
mention that he's been a professional artist for 20 years now, being
requested by John Peel for a BBC session calling him at his own
place, was signed on Domino Records in 1997, was asked for
official remixes for Tarwater, Blonde Redhead, Mogwai, Ulver or
Thurston Moore, who later invited him to play under the NYC
Brooklyn Bridge, he was one of the few artists involved in the
reunion of Silver Apples and then touring with them in the US,
toured as a choir singer aside Yann Tiersen around the year 2010,
and played hundred of shows as Matt Elliott over UK, Germany,
France, Japan, Greece, Italy and Spain/Portugal for years. To finish
this name dropping part, let's notice that he played the greatest
festivals such as Primavera and Tanned Tin in Spain, Incubate & Le
Guess Who in the Netherlands, and the infamous All Tomorrow's
Party in the UK.
Now, let's get back to the music, as the new Matt Elliott album The
Calm Before, its seventh under his own name, is about to be
released digitally on february 5th, and physically on march 4th,
2016. Matt has once again requested producer David Chalmin and
the musicians appearing on his previous record, the more
optimistic Only Myocardial Infarction Can Break Your Heart (2013),
to deliver six new masterpiece songs following the "A Beginning"
intro.
While one could consider these new songs are a logical continuum
to his previous records, a deeper listen reveals a strong work of
both the musical and lyrical content, showing once and for all
what Matt Elliott's art is about. Folk guitar virtuosity playing
influenced by mediterranean countries as well as eastern Europe
countries, songs starting from whispered melodies to full noisy
storms, his deep and strong voice reaching another singing level,
and his tendency to avoid any well known way of making the
music, writing epic anthems.
But one should also consider Matt's poetry as an art on its own. We
tried to ask him to develop the themes of these new songs, but
Matt hates talking about his lyrics, preferring to leave the
meanings of the songs open to interpretation. But we took
everyone and everything Matt loves and put them in a room and
threatened it with fire until he actually told us what the hell the
songs on "The Calm Before" are about. Here's the result : "'The
Calm Before' is obviously a reference to the expression 'The calm
before the storm'. The song itself is about those points in life
when a storm arrives, be it a circumstance or a person & the mix of
feelings, turbulence, trouble that comes with it but a storm also
brings something, it clears the air & can push you into a new
situation."
Matt Elliott was brought up in a religious household & as a result
like anyone who has had a religious upbringing he is deeply
psychologically disturbed. 'The Feast of St. Stephen' is a self
explanatory song about his thoughts about his childhood & the
psychological pressures, abuses and manipulations present in all
social groups in organised religion.
To him : "'I Only Wanted to Give You Everything' needs no
explanation, the lyrics are clear and the music expresses the
frustrations of rejection. 'Wings & Crown' is a song about those
who ride high oblivious to the precariousness of their power. It
discusses a grand fall from grace & can be about wishing a
prominent corrupt politician to fall"." It's pointless to underline that
the topic can also refer to some egotistical artist, and as it's often
the case, this song is probably about Matt himself.
Matt continues : "'The Allegory of the Cave' is very obviously about
Plato's famous allegory and if you don't know that then you
should probably just give up and walk into the desert… . But
seriously the allegory is about humanity in relationship to the
great universe and what lies beyond the Pale. Plato reasoned that
humanity is like a man in a cave who's hands are bound and that
the universe is projected onto the wall of the cave and although
man can see the shadows, unable to turn, he can only guess
at what they represent. The song is an existential ramble, are we
just a bunch of cells? Will, what makes our minds, carry on after
death?". As an agnostic, Matt would argue that we simply cannot
know. In typical pessimistic fashion, Matt argues that both
returning in another life to repeat all the suffering and pain we
endure and facing an eternal void are both ideas too tragic to
contemplate. That guy seems to never be happy.
However, Matt Elliott delivers with "The Calm Before" another
masterpiece, adding a precious stone in his path through
contemporary folk music.