Scott Mathews

Scott Matthews Biography 2023
Scott Matthews’ ground-breaking debut album, Passing Stranger earned him serious critical
acclaim with its bold mix of folk, rock, blues and Eastern-inspired song-writing, and in 2007
his first single ‘Elusive’ won the Ivor Novello Award for ‘Best Song Musically and Lyrically’.
From here Scott went on to perform on a number of international sell-out tours with
respected artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Bert Jansch, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Foo
Fighters, Snow Patrol and Tori Amos.
His follow-up albums saw, Robert Plant come onboard for a guest contribution on second
album, Elsewhere, and legendary bassist Danny Thompson appearing on his third release
What The Night Delivers, having encountered each other whilst performing in Joe Boyd’s
stage production of Way to Blue – The Songs of Nick Drake.
Championed by Lauren Laverne as ‘a big favourite’ and Huey Morgan as being ‘something
else’, Scott’s musical dexterity and experimentative approach to song-writing and homerecording continued to excite over the course of the next several albums released on his
own label, from the intrinsically poetic, organic nature of The Great Untold, to the daring
and audacious New Skin.
This album was arguably his boldest move yet, New Skin swathed in Eno-esque electronica
and Thom Yorke-centric uncovering, channelled the driving energy of ‘80s Springsteen and
was widely lauded by Robert Plant, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Bella Union’s Simon Raymonde
and BBC 6Music. It was rock and ambient, acoustic and electro. Matthews had never
sounded so vital. Never sounded so fresh. Never sounded so energised. And never sounded
so good.
But this story is not over yet and the Ivor Novello award-winner is not afraid to evolve once
more. From within this freshly paved electronic landscape, Matthews’ latest album, Restless
Lullabies, emerges with a stark boldness that is breath taking. These phoenix songs, born
from New Skin, have more to give, worthy of reincarnation, entirely reimagined by
Matthews who appears dauntless, they are restless with good reason.
Now entirely unadorned, stripped of their electronic veil, the album’s acoustic purity creates
a subliminal listening experience. From the ethereal acapella, ‘Intruders on Earth’, to the
evocative duet, ‘Anniversary’, where Matthews performs with American soul-jazz singer,
Krystle Warren, the result being a vocal fusion that seems impossibly perfect. The skeletal
delicacy of the songs allows his poetry to breathe, his transcendent vocal to soar, brings his
dexterously sensitive guitar playing into microscopic focus and further cements his
undeniable mastery as one of our greatest songsmiths.
Restless Lullabies is the Yin to New Skin’s Yang, so obviously interconnected and yet
somehow possessing an entirely different force. Here, once again, Scott Matthews has given
us a portal to his very core.