Scott Matthew: Scott Matthew

Brisbane-born singer-songwriter Scott Matthew has a unique musical aesthetic (‘chamber folk-pop’ is the best description I can manage), an almost painfully confessional approach to writing, and a voice that is simply unearthly. He pleads, cries, soars, and swoons with overwhelming emotional intensity over stark but ravishing arrangements for strings, guitar, piano and ukulele.

His voice and approach will invariably saddle him with comparisons to Antony and the Johnsons –and this album is every bit as good as Antony’s classic Now I Am A Bird. You’ll also hear plenty of Bowie, and sympathies with artists like Rufus Wainwright or Final Fantasy. This is Scott’s debut, although he provided songs for John Cameron Mitchell’s film Shortbus: several of those tunes are beautifully reworked here. This edition includes a nine-track bonus disc, recorded live in Germany, with several non-album songs.