Alan Dearling shares the One Man vibes!
It was an experience to catch up with Matthew in a live performance prior to his Italian tour. Hypnotic, haunting and mesmeric. Crammed full of vast musical shimmerings. It took places on a small bespoke stage in the Three Wise Monkeys’ Thai eaterie and music venue in Todmorden. Bare toes at the ready, for Matthew to utilise to push and pull all his myriad array of pedals, buttons, loops and delays.
His offerings provide an odd-ball, mystical, musical brew. High-flying tinklings, with echoes of the Shadows too, with added hints of John Martyn. Strangely-strange and even seriously peculiar.
Alternately, chugging rhythms and exhilarating arpeggio crescendos. Worth taking a bit of time-out to listen and witness his curious show and unique brand of live guitar extemporising. Mucho harmonics, oddly weird extra-terrestrial sonics, bleeps, burps and splurges of audio colour. Not to mention his hands flying around the acoustic guitar fretboard in seemingly endless contortions.
Self-described, or is it proclaimed as: “The Michael Flatley of guitar music.”
Certainly, a vast amount of technical wizardry. Weird shit. Strangely perhaps, I was reminded of scenes from ‘Withnail and I’. Matthew has more than a tinge of bohemia and thespian about him, onstage and off…
Here’s Matthew and his soundscape piece: ‘Oranges and Blue’.
It’s from his performance for ‘Sofar’, Live in London : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVepP1PtpBM
My favourite Youtube comment: @dannycleave
“Absolutely mesmerising as usual from the ‘Greatest toes in Egham’. Such beautiful soundscapes!”
Seriously unhinged weirdness, alternating trips into the light firmament above, and the deepest heart of darkness.
