Matthew Fowler has today released his stunning label debut – The Grief We Gave Our Mother – a beautiful documentation of all the joy, wonder, heartbreak and confusion of life in your early 20s. Here, we review Matthew Fowler’s debut record and choose our highlights from the project. Listen to the record here.
Matthew Fowler has today released his stunning label debut – The Grief We Gave Our Mother – that is a beautifully emotive project that documents the breadth of the emotion that we experience in our twenties. Written over the course of the past several years, The Grief We Gave Our Mother is a profoundly personal work of self-discovery and introspection, but more than that, it’s an ode to growing up and chasing dreams. The resulting record is at once bold and timid, hopeful and anxious, world-weary and naïve, but above all an honest, revelatory collection about putting one foot in front of the other and forging a life of purpose, passion, and meaning. It’s a project brimming with authenticity.
Working with Shane Leonard, Fowler has been able to create a phenomenally consistent and cohesive project that shows an artist of immense emotional depth. As Leonard says, ‘It’s such a privilege to plumb the depths of emotion with Matthew. The triumph of cracking a song’s code, the agony of finding him crying on my front porch after he’d accidentally snapped my favorite bass in two, the ecstasy of capturing a magical take, and the contentment of a late night listen-through when it’s all over.’ Fowler’s elegant, emotionally charged tunes show an artist in total command of his own vulnerabilities as an artist – only enhanced by Leonard’s delicate production. Staying true to the raw nature of the material, Leonard assembled a small crew of musicians to perform all of the overdubs live together in the studio, channeling the same collaborative energy and humanity that had fueled the original sessions. ‘Everything with Shane was just so natural,‘ says Fowler. ‘We didn’t go in with a lot of structured ideas or detailed plans. It was all about feeling the music in the moment and letting that guide the songs wherever they needed to go.’ It is this collaborative energy that allows the truly raw emotion to shine through, giving it an authentic touch.
From opening track ‘Marianne’ to the final notes of ‘Beginners,’ Fowler offers a tenderly, elegant record crammed with emotional complexity and depth. It’s a shimmering, elegant display of an artist in full command of his own emotional depth and artistry, self-referential about his own artistry (‘Blankets’) and immensely introspective on his own flaws and tendencies (‘Marianne,’ ‘I Fall Away’), but above all it’s a record that feels intensely personal – an ode to growing up and chasing dreams, wrestling with the difficulties of love and loss as much as its joy. The instrumentation is captivating, layering subtle woodwind with flawlessly strong background harmonies and Fowler’s interesting and unique vocal that possesses an immensity of emotion. It’s a devastatingly complex but still incredibly accessible record.
