SIEBEN - Our Solitary Confinement - CD - 13 tracks - Iceflower / Trisol

Matt Howden generously continues the adventure of Sieben, whose music more and more approaches the works released under his own name. For this third album, he has been influenced by the works by Danish photographer Kristine Haffgaard. Working directly on her photographs, impregnating himself with them and composing after the images they reflect upon him, every piece undeniably mirrors its author's sentiments towards these snapshots, be it the impressions which submerge us during a stay at a historic site haunted by a thousand memories, or the weight of a loaded and intense past. These moments of life, of time elapsed, scrutinising a place, an image, a painting. Matt Howden has thus transposed the backdrops of these photographs, the unvoiced comments, transcending the physical confinements of body and matter, giving free rein to his abounding imagination, like staying in an empty chamber where the sensations rapidly, abundantly emerge, vibrant to the echoes of past life gathered by the room. Musically, we find ardent percussions, the timbre of Matt's warm, patriarchal voice, his inimitable violin and his enraptured arrangements. A very personal folk-pop music, impregnated by an indescribable aura that makes the undeniable charm and authenticity of Matt Howden, the multiply talented, prolific composer, who insufflates an exceptional grace in all his various projects, whether it be Sieben, Raindogs, Sol Invictus, the solo works, Howden/Wakeford, or others still.

Excellent !

Stéphane F.
Winter 2003
Translation: Volker

Contact :
www.matthowden.com