Scott Matthews

Mesmeric, from start to finish. Scott Matthews is truly an incredible artist. For long periods in this show – to quote the adage - you could have heard a pin drop. And what's more, if you did, whoever dropped it would have been mobbed.If you don’t know of this mans music, I recommend you resolve that, and if you do, you have to hear it live.

At first all I knew of Scott Matthews was his album Home, Pt. 1 which I happened upon by accident on iTunes. How very lucky I can be sometimes. I thought instantly that this was one of the most soulful and ambient collections of songs I'd ever heard. Nebulous, full of flow and emotion that's done with class and taste. I was also amazed at the way the songs had been produced, capturing the landscape of elegant guitar work and amazing vocals and making it so easy to hear. I didn't know how it would be possible to recreate "that sound" live. But put simply, it was even better.

Straight away you could feel the audience, myself included, get swallowed in the atmosphere of the show. The wonderful combination of the deep red lights on the rear walls of the venue, Christmas lights adorning the instruments and teck-ware on the stage, and a huge flawless disco ball hanging high above littering pearly dots all around the main standing area really was an inspiration for the evening, and greatly suited the quiet acoustic set of Kathryn Williams (whom everyone should check out), and the soul-bending set of Scott Matthews.

Now here it's worth laying out that the band were faultless. They embellished the tone of these songs beautifully. An example being Mona - one of my favorite songs off Home, Pt. 1 - that was given the simple treatment of slide guitar and a heartbeat-pulsing kick drum which transformed it powerfully. Other numbers also used moments of barber-shop harmony, stunning solo's, and slide guitar to spice up the arrangements. Like the band solos in Bad Apple. A very endearing moment as Scott sat himself down on the stage cheerfully sipped his water.

So all things considered my recommendation to anyone reading this is to find space on your iPod for Scott Matthews. If you like atmospheric, filmic music filled with mystery you'll be able to find a song or two to add to your collection. This man has won an Ivor Novello for his song Elusive and I would recommend him to absolutely anyone who values what they listen to. So to conclude, I and many others had a fantastic evening on the sixth, including a couple of blokes next to me who hadn't ever heard of him before who were loving it by song four.

His new album is called Home, Pt. 2 and it's only available through his website, and unfortunately I saw the last night of his UK tour so keep an eye out for more dates.