Matt Epp

Winnipeg, Canada

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About

Matt Epp
Orphan Horse (Independent)

A+

According to its liner notes, Orphan Horse was recorded live off the floor during a "frigid winter storm." Methinks the weather rubbed off a little on Matt Epp that day. While songs such as Love is a Camel and You Should Know are anything but pessimistic, one can't help but feel a little reflective listening to Orphan Horse, just as one gets when they're cooped in on a cold night. It's not so much the lyrics that cause this bittersweet reaction - and Epp's are excellent, by the way - but more so the tone. Not unlike Ryan Adams, Epp has this weighty pitch that travels right to the core, and can either make your heart feel incredibly heavy or lift you right to your feet. If you like music, you'll like this.
-- Jared Story (UPTOWN magazine - Winnipeg)

Matt Epp's sophomore studio album is titled 'Love In Such Strong Words', and was released fall 2006. Taking wider writing and recording approaches, he explores the influence of rock, poetry, traditional roots music, and more elaborate arrangements on this sophomore release. Epp cites God as playing thunder and rain on the third track, 'Across The Border'. Other contributing musicians include Gilles Fournier (bass) and Daniel Roy (drums), Rene Campbell (lead guitar), Kristjanna Oleson (violin & viola), Dan Frechette (mandolin & slide guitar). Shannon Laliberte sang a soul/jazz solo on 'For God's Sake Irene'. Matt Peters and Rusty Matyas (the Waking Eyes) played fantastic organ and trumpet parts respectively, and a great cast of up and coming singers as a makeshift choir. The Animata String Quartet played beautifully on 2 songs. Jessee Havey (the Duhks) sang with Matt on 'The Family Farm'. Ron Halldorson (Lenny Breau) also blessed that track with a very inspired pedal steel take. Matt produced alongside Dan Donahue again, and Donahue played some hammond organ. The Lions Den Studio provided a very relaxed atmosphere for inspired performances. The 7 week Cross Canada Release Tour wrapped up end of October 06, just on time for Matt to spend 2 months performing and writing in Toronto leading into the new year.

"A beautifully realized folk album with a voice that's as gritty as a gravel farm road but also soars like the sky above it. The songs are brilliantly textured with a Dylan-esque folk sensibility, and Epp lets his influences shine through while maintaining his own sound." -Jen Zoratti (UPTOWN)

Born in Crystal City, Manitoba in 1980, Matt Epp spent his youth moving with his family (he is the oldest of 7 children) between several Manitoba towns. In these years his passions were only for fishing and for books. He remembers his home in Cypress River, a humble Manitoba village of 300, and laying awake late into the night with his younger brother, quietly listening to 50s and 60s songs on Winnipeg's KY58 am station. These twilight hours of songs from days before his time, and his dad's country records, shaped young Matthew's musical tastes long before he ever desired to make music himself.

For the next several years after high school, cross-country hitchhiking took Epp between Manitoba, Alberta, and Quebec with no permanent fixed address, during which he attended two years of business school and learned to make skateboard and snowboard movies. Epp moved from Montreal and settled in Winnipeg in September 2001. He lived in a car for 3 months until he could find a place to live. Once out of the car he filmed and completed 'Love Life', a professional skateboard DVD released in October 2003.

Epp was inspired to become a songwriter after hearing Winnipeg's prolific Dan Frechette perform his original songs on winter night in 2002. The day after hearing Frechette perform, Epp called in 'inspired' to work and got straight to work learning to write songs. Matt recorded his debut solo album 'You'll Find Me Alone' 3 years later, in just 10 hours and released it in September 2005. An autobiographical acoustic collection, it marks the folk & blues influence in Epp's music, and his potential to be among Canada's best songwriters. This debut peaked at #6 in Canada among the campus/community radio stations folk/jazz/blues charts in January 2006 and continues to garner the attention of fans and critics alike.

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Videos(2)

Comments(13)

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Poetic+Edge Photography, Dec 23, 2008:

Thanks for the add.

Guðrið Johansen, Dec 13, 2008:

Hi Matt:)
thanks for the add! I like your style :)
good songs you have there:)
my profile is not really updated, for more info check: www.myspace.com/gudridjohansen

noeliaflores, Jan 22, 2008:

.... hello!
...... thank for the add!...see you!

IG - Ivana Gatti / Gianni Maroccolo, Aug 22, 2007:

hello Matt, thanks for the add

Trois Pool, Aug 15, 2007:

pee pee poo poo, wah wah boo hoo, ain't it all true you donno who too coo' foo'

helene loussier, Jul 17, 2007:

it is such a perfect world ! i love musicians...... thank you !

emily hunt, Jul 17, 2007:

that I have! however, it's been a while. I've been to Manhattan a bunch recently though, so that almost counts. is this sad lady a fictional character for the song, or have you really been to Kansas?

surprisingly enough, it's quite a lovely place.. although I am set on moving to Canada (ha!) once my two years of trade school are done. Toronto, more than likely.