Matt Perriment is an indie folk-inspired singer songwriter currently based in London, who has steadily been establishing himself in the British festival scene. He’s recently released a new single, “Oceans”, which is the first taste of his forthcoming sophomore EP Memos, which is set for release in March 2019.
Undoubtedly a gifted songwriter, Perriment has already cemented himself as a well travelled performer, with a number of international headline and support tours, including a successful thirteen date tour in New Zealand in 2017. Perriment has also decided to head down to Australia following the release of his forthcoming EP, with a run of shows in early 2020 looking likely. So now is as good a time as any to get yourself acquainted with Perriment’s music.
Perriment has put together a playlist of the songs that influenced and inspired his new single “Oceans” for us. So we’ll hand you over to Matt to tell you a little more about the single, and the inspirations behind it:
“Oceans” is a really personal track to me, written in a very stripped back way, like most of my music. Turns out it developed into a way bigger production than we initially intended, which I think actually replicated the passion and emotion of the track itself.
What made recording ‘Oceans’ interesting was the tough balance of keeping such an intimate and emotional track true to its stripped roots. It was important to ensure the huge builds and use of so many instruments didn’t crowd the lyrics and intimacy, but instead accentuated them, enabling me to replicate the passion I put into writing it.
Henry Jamison – “Dallas Love Field”
The balance of vocal melody and the sound of the guitar work on this is beautiful, and exactly what I wanted for “Oceans”. Lyrics are really important to me and often combining a heavy lyrical song with fingerpicking guitar can make a track feel crowded. Henry Jamison is an incredible lyricist (“to a cosmic home, a place to stay, spinning lanterns in a field until the end of days” being my favourite) and plays a guitar riff that doesn’t just provide a backing platform to his lyrics, but accentuates them which in my eyes is the perfect balance.
Ed Tullet / Novo Amor – “Faux”
If you do one thing this year, listen to this track on your own in a dark room somewhere. As an artist I’ve always played live and am in love with the atmosphere that can be created with live music, which is partly why I incorporated live strings in my set. The backing vocals, atmospheric strings and melodic tension created in this track is hauntingly stunning, and we used this as a real reference point for “Oceans” in our attempt to replicate the live atmosphere. Everything from bird noise to reverby electric guitar riffs, so much trial and error goes into this, something that Ed Tullet and Novo Amor master more than the rest.
Flyte – “Faithless”
Four boys from my home town in the UK who I would consider have the best male harmony work in the industry right now. This track uses harmonies and backing vocals in a more melodic way that actually shapes the track, a use I hadn’t really considered before. If you love it, and you will, check out the live versions, they’re even better.
Paramore – “26”
This probably looks like a rogue addition given Paramore‘s ‘typical sound’ but this is one of my favourite stripped back tracks from their new album, and anyone that listens to this will see how much it influenced “Oceans”. This track starts off with beautiful acoustic guitar works and builds using a genius string arrangement in an unexpected way. The violin and cello we recorded is key to the build in “Oceans”, a build which is pretty unexpected if you don’t know it’s coming.
“Oceans” is available now. Memos is set for release in March 2019. With Australian tour dates forthcoming be sure to keep up to date with Perriment via his Facebook and Twitter pages.
