Matt Elliott – ‘Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On’

Twenty years ago, Matt Elliott released Drinking Songs, the first part of a significant trilogy—a magnificent album of seven dark folk tracks that remains to this day the most listened to on streaming platforms and highly praised by fans of the Bristol native. Today, to celebrate the anniversary of the most iconic work in his discography, Matt Elliott presents ‘Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On’, a collection of alternative versions recorded live as a trio.

Matt Elliott, who had already made a name for himself in the indie electronic scene under The Third Eye Foundation moniker, ventured into folk territory in the early 2000s. Born in 2004, ‘Drinking Songs’ is the Englishman’s second album under his own name, following ‘The Mess We Made’, released in 2003 on Domino. What sets Matt Elliott apart is his ability to fuse different styles, blending chamber folk with Eastern European cabaret music, while simultaneously drawing on his electronic music background, particularly his mastery of sampling and effects, to serve the song.

A deep exploration of the human condition, ‘Drinking Songs’  is a journey through the most inaccessible corners of the soul. Each track on this album is a story in itself, a window into moments of pain, nostalgia, and reflection. “C.F. Bundy“, with its nocturnal guitar notes and plaintive cello, immerses us in an atmosphere that is both eerie and familiar, setting the tone for the album right from the start. “Trying to Explain” and “The Guilty Party” delve into themes of incommunicability and loss, with arrangements that seem to float like specters in the night. Concluding the album, “The Mess We Made” offers twenty minutes of jungle where time seems to be stretching out: Perhaps the most enigmatic and accomplished conclusion for a slowcore album…

Several hundred concerts across Europe and seven albums later, Matt Elliott now presents Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On, revisiting this landmark album. Recorded at L’Autre Canal in Nancy, where the Englishman has been living for several years now, this album features previously unreleased trio versions, with musicians who regularly accompany him on stage: Anne-Elisabeth de Cologne (double bass) and Barbara Dang (piano). Anyone who has seen him perform solo or with this trio knows how much Matt Elliott has enjoyed drawing on the tracks of ‘Drinking Songs’, such as the emblematic and poignant “The Kursk.” The painful notes of the tortured young man, barely softened by the gaze of a now more serene Matt Elliott, also benefit from the choice of a live recording. The presence of double bass, piano, and saxophone (which Matt Elliott seems to have fully embraced since his last album ‘The End of Days’) adds new dimensions and textures to the compositions. The trio’s virtuosity and sensitivity enhance each note, each silence, bringing an even more intimate and compelling force to each track.

This collaboration transcends the studio version, capturing the raw emotion of a Matt Elliott who, at 50, seems to be at the peak of his art. Whether you’re familiar with the studio versions or not, you have to be hooked from the first track, an interweaving, a superimposition of the first two tracks of the original album: “CF Bundy / Trying to Explain“. Seventeen minutes, mostly instrumental, beautifully tear-jerking, oozing spleen and absinthe. Drinking Songs Live 20 Years On  is not just a celebration of two decades of internationally recognized work; it is above all an edifying work in exploration and reinterpretation. By breathing new life into his ‘Drinking Songs’  twenty years later, Matt Elliott has given us a precious gift: the opportunity to listen to ‘Drinking Songs’ again for the first time.

LINE-UP

solo:
Matt Elliott: voice, guitar, saxophone

duo:
Matt Elliott: voice, guitar, saxophone
Anne Elisabeth de Cologne: double bass