Following Scott Matthews’ critically acclaimed album, New Skin, lauded by Robert Plant, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and Bella Union’s Simon Raymonde as his most courageous move yet in its Eno-esque electronica and Thom Yorke-centric uncovering, comes the sequel to its story, and the Ivor Novello award-winner is not afraid to evolve once more.

From within this freshly paved electronic landscape, Matthews’ new album, Restless Lullabies, emerges with a stark boldness that is breath taking. These phoenix songs, born from New Skin, have more to give, worthy of reincarnation, entirely reimagined by Matthews who appears dauntless, they are restless with good reason.

Now entirely unadorned, stripped of their electronic veil, the album’s organic, acoustic purity creates a subliminal listening experience. From the ethereal acapella, ‘Intruders on Earth’, to the evocative duet, ‘Anniversary’, where Matthews performs with American soul-jazz singer, Krystle Warren, the result being a vocal fusion that seems impossibly perfect. The skeletal delicacy of the songs allows his poetry to breathe, his transcendent vocal to soar, brings his dexterously sensitive guitar playing into microscopic focus and further cements his undeniable mastery as one of our greatest songsmiths.

Restless Lullabies is the Yin to New Skin’s Yang, so obviously interconnected and yet somehow possessing an entirely different force. Here, once again, Scott Matthews has given us a portal to his very core. The album was mastered by Miles Showell at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, who praised it; thus, “It is not over emphasising things when I say that Scott’s forthcoming album is among the very best records I have worked on in my whole career”.

Scott Matthews is on tour in the UK throughout 2023. Get tickets & more info here: https://www.scottmatthews.uk/tour-dates