1.) We’re very excited to be speaking today with acclaimed and multitalented artist Matt Elliott; greetings and salutations, Matt! Before we dive down the proverbial Q&A rabbit hole, how goes your 2023 thus far?

-So far so good, I kind of had quite a bleak winter, like a lot of people apparently but after the release of the Album things got a lot better and I’m just recovering (in a mostly good way) from a great little tour.

2.) Kudos and plaudits for the upcoming March 31 release of your remarkable new album The End of Days! What’s the Secret Origin story behind this gem of an album? How did it come into being?

 -Well there’s no ignoring the integral and newest addition to the Matt Elliott palette, my saxophone. So it’s a somewhat convoluted story but basically at the end of 2019 I had a crazy tour that broke me physically, mentally and even spiritually. I said to myself ‘I’d love to have a year of doing nothing’ and the universe handed out covid. So in fact I, personally was quite glad to have some down time….. but at the end of 2020 I started to get bored, or rather restless, I don’t really get bored….. And I had been thinking about how musicians I work with, strings players, how they could express with the length of the note, and I realized this is something I missed. So I looked for a new instrument, at first I thought about Cello but then I just invited the universe in and just searched the local classifieds for an instrument. I found a clarinet and bought it. I kind of assumed I could play it and I managed to lake sense of it pretty quickly but then my mind started wandering towards a saxophone. In 2020 I had rediscovered Jazz and it was great because I used to work in a record shop that sold a lot of jazz, and my boss would play it often and apparently it all went in, because as I rediscovered this Music it brought back a lot of memories of jazz so anyway I started thinking about saxophone and I debated with myself for a week and finally just got one and well, I fell in love with the instrument to the point that I wonder how I got this far without it. So anyway the saxophone also taught me a lot, I was composing on the saxophone as opposed to a guitar and that kind of guided me to think differently, only in terms of melody, anyway, that is essentially how the album was born. In fact, when it comes to recording, I often go into the studio with some fixed ideas, but most of the songs are vague improvisations around certain themes, that we then compose around.

3.) The End of Days calls to mind other classic “themed” albums which either loosely or tightly focuses on one topic throughout the course of its runtime. The new album includes 6 elegies chronicling the feeling of impending doom lamenting humanity and its apparent chosen direction. Was it always your goal to have that connective tissue between the tunes on the LP?

-Well in fact I often don’t have goals, at least that I’m aware of, I mean ‘The End of Days’ is kind of where we are as a species, it is also a line I use twice in Farewell to All We Know, but actually it’s only ‘The End of Days’ the song itself that is about living in this strange time where we seem to be sleepwalking our way to our own doom…… The rest is either personal, about grief, or heartache and even one about healing…… so It’s not all doom and gloom…..

4.) In your ever-humble opinion, what do you feel differentiates The End of Days from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music scene?

-I absolutely don’t think of music in terms of competition, it’s a completely alien concept. Music exists, it is not really quantifiable to me and it’s certainly not a competition and hahaha if it is, I’m no doubt losing, actually perhaps it’s that, I’m so far behind that I don’t realize it’s a race…… but actually I’m shockingly behind in current musical things, and actually I prefer it that way. When I did Third Eye Foundation, I was working in record shops and actually being too aware of what’s going on, or really caring about it to the point that you start thinking ‘oh I think I should go in that direction’, it’s kind of a distraction. The occasional thing will grab my attention, like Moor Mother ‘Jazz Codes’, a fantastic record, Eartheater as well, There’s some other interesting stuff around for sure but ‘competition’ and I couldn’t tell you what distinguishes my record from any others.

5.) Ici, d’Ailleurs is the label of note releasing The End of Days. What makes Ici, d’Ailleurs the perfect home for you and your music? 

-Artistic freedom is the simple answer. But we get things done. We know how we work, we’re all on the same team and as I said, I get total artistic freedom,  The get my vision perfectly and well it just works…..

6.) Who was your producer on The End of Days and what did that collaboration between artist and producer look like in the studio?

-I have the extreme fortune to work with the best co producer in the world, David Chalmin, who has an amazing studio. We have collaborated on 4 Matt Elliott albums and a Third Eye Foundation album, and we know each other so well, he totally gets my vision and he just helps me fashion it before my eyes. Its so great working with David. I mean in my memory it just happens, really quickly, we barely talk, I mean hahaha obviously we talk a lot but I mean each time we work together he gets it even more. It’s just a great pleasure. Also I get to work with some great musicians, I mean David himself is a musical genius, his piano and other little tricks are such an important part of each album. So basically I record my stuff, as I say, it might be a song with a defined structure or it might be an improvisation, and we just record, it actually happens quite quickly, I think this was done in 2 sessions, including rough mixing. SO once we have the skeleton we can build around it, I don’t really know how to explain it, it is mostly instinctive. I also have set rules about what is acceptable in my music as far as palettes and styles. I know what I don’t like, but I can be pleasantly surprised by what I do like.

7.) One of the lead singles off of the upcoming LP is Unresolved which just dropped a few days back! What made Unresolved the perfect candidate to lead the pre-charge as a single release en route to the new album?

-Basically it’s less than 9 minutes hahahaha many of my songs are journeys, and the journeys can be a small ramble, that said I also quite enjoy doing shorter songs but even unresolved is like 5 minutes or something. But also Steph, teh label boss said it was his favourite so I thought why not?

8.) Speaking of Unresolved, the music video for this tune is nothing short of captivating and haunting! Creatively did you have a very active hand in the finished music video?

-I have absolutely zero creative input into Virgil Pinks videos above asking him if he’d like to do it. He has been making videos of my music for over a decade and over time he’s made videos that absolutely floored me, the video he did for ‘I Would Have Woken You With This Song’ is so beautiful and ‘I Put a Spell on You’ is a technical masterpiece and so beautiful as for ‘Wake the Dead’ the video is mind blowing. So of course over the years we have talked, because I wanted him to know how much I appreciated his videos and his vision but I never impose anything on Virgil. He is totally free and I prefer it that way. So we asked him and he was also happy with ‘Unresolved’ and he didn’t let us down

9.) We’re tremendous admirers of the showstopping tune Flowers for Bea off of the upcoming The End of Days album! What prompted this little gem from your writer’s pen?

-Well in fact a woman, a nurse, was killed tragically by a drunk driver about 300 metres from my house, and she was someone evidently who was greatly loved, and her loved ones posted photos and flowers for years after. I would walk past these flowers pretty much every day but in fact the song is about those flowers, and those who grieve for the dead, but in fact it was a song about my own grief, of course.

10.) Who inspires you musically?

-Literally too many things to mention, from throughout time, millions of pieces of music that contain an honest emotion or expression, anything that can move me, not necessarily to sadness, if it can move me to dance, or be joyous, or wonder then it will be some sort of inspiration. As I said, 2020 onwards has mainly been taken up by listening to jazz but I’m not attempting to play Jazz and nor will I ever, I wouldn’t dare. In fact it’s one of the wonderful thing about the sax, it’s so close to the expressivity of the human voice

11.) What does your touring/performing schedule look like in the wake of the March 31 release of The End of Days?

-Well, and sorry for answering so late, I didn’t get a moment, but yest the tour was short but sweet but we are working on a lengthier tour at the end of summer, there are a few dates to come in the next month too, including a rare trio performance in Paris, Café de La Danse May 15th

12.) The saxophone is used prominently on the new LP. What is it about the saxophone which speaks to you as a musician? 

-Ah well I just said that it is very expressive instrument. It’s also a joy to play, especially as I feel I had this built up expression that couldn’t find it’s way out because it’s the kind of expression that is in the length of a note (as I said earlier) and well it’s very therapeutic to play. It’s also weirdly logical in it’s illogical way. They are just beautiful instruments and well I just love playing it……. I’m still finding my way and I have a long way to go but I’m enjoying the journey……

13.) Any final thoughts which you might like to share with our ever-inquisitive readers regarding the new LP?

-Only that if you’re young, please organize rise up and take over, if you want any kind of future because capitalism doesn’t care about your future. Please, for the sake of humanity organize…..