A SHORT PIER IN A LONG SEA (2022)

Fun fact! Not all albums have to be difficult to write and to create – this one is the first that I’ve done in a very long time that is simply a bunch of tunes that I just needed to get out of my head and into the world. I have written LOADS of songs over the years that could have applied to, but in this case these seven popped their heads above the parapet and told me to run with it. Unusually for me I didn’t overthink it that much and went for it.

Very, very usually for me I told no-one that I was planning it and stealth released to zero fanfare… so I can’t really complain that not enough people have heard it can I? A bit of a shame though, as there are some cracking songs on there though even if I say so myself.

LISTEN / BUY ON iTUNES       BUY ON AMAZON

LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS (2018)

Well, this has been a bit of a mission.  Around four years ago I wrote a blog post about an album idea I had, an idea that had probably been bubbling for a few years before that.  A lot can happen in four years and a lot has happened in four years.

I think it’s fair to say my life is in a different place now than it was then, not necessarily a place that I either wanted or expected, but then again not a bad place to be either.  If this seems like I’m skirting around what I actually mean or what I feel that’s because I most definitely am!

BUY ON CD from me!

LISTEN / BUY ON iTUNES       BUY ON AMAZON

For me, it’s much easier to express complex and difficult emotions in the abstract as songs than it is in person.  In person I always worry that anything I espouse comes across as my concrete belief, but feelings are far more slippery than that. They’re not definitive and they are not easily articulated.  They change.  In song, I’m once removed.  I can be changeable, but the song remains the same.  Quicksilver preserved in amber.

So I’ll let the music do the talking.  If it resonates and means something to you then you don’t need the details of my life to tell you how to feel.

And so, here we are.  Love and Other Demons are real.

Tracklisting:

1. Human Is Human
2. Broken
3. She Starts Fires
4. Average Avenue
5. The Only One
6. Do I Look Like I Care?
7. Nights In Armour
8. Cold Concrete
9. Why We Were Lovers
10. The Smallest Love Song

© 2018 Matthew Howes. All songs written by Matthew Howes except “Cold Concrete” written by Matthew Howes & Chris Jones. All sounds by Matthew Howes except:
Guitar on “Cold Concrete” by Chris Jones
Piano on “Average Avenue” and “Do I Look Like I Care?” by Ralph Blackbourn
Drums on “Average Avenue” and “Do I Look Like I Care?” by Gary Mackenzie
Backing vocals on “The Smallest Love Song” by Rachel Cashdan
Recorded, mixed and produced by Matthew Howes @ Big Ness Studios
Photograph courtesy of Nicola Robertson