The Leaf Label: MATTHEW BOURNE

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BIOGRAPHY

With a reputation as a fearlessly unpredictable pianist and composer, Matthew Bourne is a passionate explorer of sound, possessed of a burning desire to make music on anything old, broken or infirm.

Following his celebrated moogmemory project, Matthew Bourne returns to the piano for Isotach. Skeletal piano motifs, an aching use of space and sparing cello arrangements are deployed to devastating effect.

Born in Avebury, Wiltshire in 1977, Bourne first came to national attention as a winner of the Perrier Jazz Award in 2001, which was followed by an award for innovation at the BBC Radio Jazz Awards in 2002, and the International Jazz Festivals Organisation’s International Jazz Award in 2005. Renowned for his intensely personal and sometimes confrontational solo work, Bourne’s uncanny ability to balance delicacy and virtuosity, while establishing a close affinity with his audience, have become hallmarks of his concert performances.

Bourne’s first solo studio album, Montauk Variations (The Sunday Times’ Leftfield Album of the Year in 2012), was celebrated for its sense of stillness and serenity, marking an important musical turning point in his career and the beginning of a new creative direction. Pieces from Montauk Variations have appeared on compilations by Bonobo and Needwant.

With a nod to the pioneering work of Annette Peacock and Paul Bley, Bourne’s next step was to turn his considerable talents to the world of analogue synthesisers. Created without the use of computers or sequencers, moogmemory is the first album to be recorded using only the Lintronics Advanced Memorymoog. This process also served as a pathway to Radioland: Radio-Activity Revisited, a visceral live audio/visual experience created to mark the 40th anniversary of Kraftwerk’s seminal Radio-Activity album. It was produced in collaboration with electronic composer Franck Vigroux and installation artist Antoine Schmitt.

Very much in demand as a collaborator and co-conspirator, Bourne has his fingerprints on a huge number of projects, having worked with artists as diverse as John Zorn, Annette Peacock, Nils Frahm, Nostalgia 77, Broadway Project and Amon Tobin.

Bourne has set up studio in his rural West Yorkshire home in order to capture the spontaneous moments of inspiration his concerts have become famed for. With an arsenal of vintage synthesisers, tape delays and a creaky harmonium alongside his trusty piano, he is preparing for a period of intense and varied activity in his own name after many years of collaboration.

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