Matthew Herbert

PIONEERING musician and producer Matthew Herbert (Bodily Functions, Matthew Herbert Big Band) will release the first part of his "One" trilogy on 12 April on his renowned label Accidental Records.
One One is a radical departure from Herbert's modus operandi of orchestrating extraordinarily complex means of making sounds which are then sampled and used to build his music.
Matthew has taken the concept of a solo album to its logical conclusion and has written, performed, recorded and produced the 10 track record entirely by himself.
One One features Matthew singing for the first time. The result is his most intimate and “honest” musical production since he first performed live as Wishmountain in 1995, using only a pepper pot as an instrument.
Matthew says: “Singing for the record was surprisingly difficult. There was no-one there to tell me if I was terrible, and if I was terrible I had to fix it myself. I couldn't hide behind nifty production tricks.
"At times it took dressing in a black tuxedo and half a bottle of wine to get over the nerves. I didn't know how to play many of the instruments when I started. This is a really personal and honest record."
One One was recorded over four months at Matthew's private studio in the seaside town of Whitstable, Kent, with the tracks chronicling a single day in the life.
The One trilogy is the result of a musical "rebound" from the last Matthew Herbert Big Band release, There’s You And There’s Me. The album involved 2,000 samples produced by more than 350 people.
ONE ONE is out now.