Release Notes
Label: Matreya
Release: A Bed Of Waves
Date: August 2nd, 2024
Artwork By: Fulmar Illustration
It’s an early Tuesday morning, and I’m wrapping up the final deeds before I set off on my long-awaited [beach] vacation. I think it’s only appropriate that I close off this season with a track premiere from a London-based composer, a host of Contemplative Podcast, which I feature on Headphone Commute, a labelmate and a friend, Matt Emery, who is getting ready to release his sophomore album, A Bed Of Waves via Matreya Records on August 2nd. Emery’s debut, Empire, appeared in 2017 on the beloved Injazero, and since then, he’s only been teasing us with a few singles and EPs, spotlighting each of his favourite instruments. This time, besides the familiar and celebrated piano and strings, we also get to hear some vocals (Ryan O’Neal of Sleeping At Last appears on the second track). The album traverses a landscape of personal and universal themes, painted with raw emotion, moving through life’s ebbs and flows. The featured track, “Hidden Tears In The Rain”, is a piece that Emery wrote after his father’s sudden passing. It’s a profoundly touching composition for a string ensemble and a choral arrangement sprinkled over with a field recording of the rain, capturing the album’s theme.
Hidden Tears in The Rain is a very emotional track for me, it was the first piece of music I finished after losing my father early in 2023. It was a piece to channel my grief and emotions into. I felt the rain and storm recordings were the final piece of the jigsaw that really help capture the atmosphere and mood as well as tying into the title itself. Fraser and Natalia’s beautiful string playing also breathed life and that human touch which James and I spent a bit of time in the studio working on, making it more intimate when needed but bigger and grander when the piece opens up too.
— Matt Emery
Once again, the full album is out on August 2nd via Matreya Records, available on a CD and as a digital download or stream. Meanwhile, if you’re in London, you can catch Emery performing live at the Union Chapel tomorrow, July 24th, supporting Ichika Nito.
