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Saturday, May 17, 2025

Matthew and the Atlas

Kendall Lujan

7:30pm doors, 8pm show

$16 in advance, $20 day of show

21 and over

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Matthew and the Atlas

Matthew and the Atlas

When it came time for fifth full-length 'Many Times,' Matt Hegarty needed to try something different. The Aldershot songwriter, better known as Matthew and The Atlas, was keen to follow up 2023's 'This Place We Live' quickly, jumping straight back into the studio at the end of that same year. Tapping up Bear's Den member and producer Kev Jones for the challenge, they approached 'Many Times' with a production style antithetical to its title: each song was to be recorded in as few takes as possible, stripped-back and direct-to-tape, with no overdubs.

This process, the pair explain, was intended to capture Matt's songwriting in its purest form. Recorded over just two days at the iconic Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, "the idea was just to capture a moment in time that is very, very honest and open," Jones says. Inspired in part by Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' (which was itself captured over just two nights).

"We said to ourselves that I shouldn't rehearse too much," says Matt. "It's a balancing act - you have to write the songs, and know the melody and the lyrics, and how you're going to perform it. But only up to a point - you're still trying to capture something a bit truer to its original form; something you haven't over-rehearsed or refined down."

It's an approach that was taken to avoid the slow gestation process and over-thinking that Matt openly admits led to the four-year gap between his previous two albums. "I definitely tend to disappear into my studio space," he says of previous records, "There's definitely been a lot of overthinking in my home studio, and working on things, and taking a lot longer than I thought."

For 'Many Times,' then, it was a total about-face in terms of approach. "I really wanted to do the complete opposite of that," Matt explains, "and not think about instrumentation - just think about songwriting."

Capturing those songs in their rawest form led to some of 'Many Times'' most stunning moments coming from the most unlikely of places. From the engineer running around the studio mid-take, to re-position microphones while Matt was still 'in the zone,' to rhythmic thigh slaps from Kev during the recording of 'Standing Here' adding one of the record's only embellishments - and taking the track to a new dimension in the process - it's a record that thrives on its simplicity. "It's because the elements are so simple, the minutiae is massive," says Matt.

"There was always an element of uncertainty about it, which I think was a good thing," he continues of the recording process. Recording to tape - an expensive method in an increasingly digital age - "gave it an element of pressure," he admits. But despite the pressure Matt might have felt, 'Many Times' feels like Matthew and The Atlas' most effortless release in a decade.

"You've got nowhere to hide, the songs have to speak for themselves," says Kev of the approach, and it's something Matt agrees with. The result is a record which houses some of Matthew and The Atlas' most brilliant songs to date.

 

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@matthewandtheatlas

Website:
https://matthewandtheatlas.com/

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0lSENl3bteP8p2NbiSP7RM

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewandtheatlas

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/matthewandtheatlas

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/matthewandtheatlas/

X:
https://x.com/Matthew_Atlas

Kendall Lujan

Kendall Lujan

The striking talents of rising Portland talent KedallLujan will be impossible to miss in the coming year. Her indie-operatic voice stratifies songs through octave runs, making moody, melodic folk rock. To rise out of Portland's flush music scene is no easy feat, Lujan has been making herself heard by singing harmonies in AC Sapphire's backing band The Shoulderpads. Early next year we'll have her first EP.In her latest project Lujan steps out in front of the band. Many folks introduction to Lujan will be "Another", a song of lingering desire that floats Lujan's vocal range over a small symphony of archtop guitar and strings. Her strengthy voice -which ranges from mountain holler to bird-like warble, seems to hang in the air. She sings a song about retracing steps to the point where love was lost, and resolves to regain that trail in another life.Lujan opens the moody "Dot My I's" solo, fingerpicking guitar, giving us a chance to hear her commanding voice. Layered vocals and gentle driven drums join Lujan in a pocket groove. Enjoy her lyricism as she asks "how can these memories be so sweet, and other times only sting?"Lujan comes to Portland from the upper-left-most corner of rural Washington. She's had bands before but the time of the pandemic created an opportunity for Lujan to do things differently. She moved to Portland, and saw the isolation of relocation and lockdown as a chance to really dig into her own songs. The trained piano player picked up a guitar.Lujan's songs concentrate on growing up, and figuring it out, and sheturns experience into a story to make the point. The natural singer and songwriter put together a band with Micah Hummel (drums) Sam Arnold (bass) and recorded at the Map Room in Portland with Dominic Schmitt producing.Lujan is peaking on "Forget Me Knots", a crossover capable song incorporating elements of country, indie, folk, and pop. Crooning clearly over vibrato, reverb, pedal steel asking, romantically, "how long will it take for you to be sitting next to me?" with a release in February 2023.

Website:
https://www.kendalllujanmusic.com/

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