London songwriter Matt Portland is gearing up for the release of his debut EP.
Writing, recording and producing the tracks in his home studio, Matt only picked up an instrument under three years ago and began writing shortly after.
Drawing on a range of musical and literary influences, he’s set to release his debut five-track EP in late October.
Unveiling double A-Side ‘South Destruction’/’As Summer Blows Away’ as a taster of the release, combining guitar drones and percussion blended with 60’s tinged soul, we caught up with Matt to find out more about his debut EP as he shared five singles that shaped the release.
Buddy Holly – True Love Ways
Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits was the first CD I ever bought, it made me love string arrangements and 50’s production. His songs are beautiful yet simple, ‘True Love Ways’ is a prime example of this. It most definitely influenced me on the second track of this release ‘As Summer Blows Away’ to keep the message direct and to use the music as a tool to carry the lyrics.
Leon Bridges – River
I was very late to the Leon Bridges’ party but now I’m here I’m staying. This is a great song and I think anyone who’s heard this track loves it just as much as I do. Again, the simplicity of the instrumentation and the power of percussion with the tambourine hits splashed with reverb gives the song a classic sound. I used percussion heavily on the leading track ‘South Destruction’ making the track progressively more intense. I also loved the vocal sound, driven with a plate reverb, which I used on both songs.
The Last Shadow Puppets – Is This What You Wanted
This cover of the Leonard Cohen song is what a cover should be. It’s a completely new take on a great song but still carries the same message. Turner’s vocal delivery on this song is for me one of his finest moments in the Shadow Puppets. I’m a big fan of this band, they manage to run with an old sound without sounding dated. HIs crooning and falsetto on this track inspired my vocal delivery on ‘As Summer Blows Away’.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms
Nick Cave is another artist I have only just recently got into. This song inspired both tracks. ‘South Destruction’ went through many different stages and versions. It started off as a guitar-driven track but after listening to this song I found it was far more fitting to have the first half stripped back and then slowly build the song up.
Aretha Franklin – I Say A Little Prayer
I love soul backing vocals. I particularly like it when the backing vocal sets up the next line of the verse. This song and The Beatles ‘Help’ do this brilliantly. In ‘As Summer Blows Away’ I use this style in the chorus. At the end of each line, the background vocal will sing the next two words of the following line. I feel it gives the lyrics more weight and opens the chorus up.
You can listen and download Matt’s singles below via Soundcloud:
‘South Destruction’
‘As Summer Blows Away’