Street: How long have you been making music?
Matthew Barnes: This year probably about four years. I started making music when I lost my job, I got made redundant, got laid off from my design job and had quite a lot of time to spend on my own, just trying things out. I got some music software and started just playing around with sounds and textures and bits of melodies, and all of a sudden it just gradually formed into full tracks, so it’s just kind of been this slow process for me.
Street: Did you grow up in a musical environment?
MB: Not really. My parents like music but it’s not really, I guess what you would call “cool music.” Not stuff to name–drop in an interview. Actually my first concert was Michael Jackson, which was pretty nice, but they [also] took me to the Eagles. They always encouraged me to enjoy music, but it wasn’t a musical household in terms of creating music.
Street: Pitchfork has compared you to artists such as Mount Kimbie and even Bon Iver; how would you say your music stands out among those names?
MB: It’s really difficult to be objective about the type of music that you’re making. I guess what I just try to do is my own thing and not really pay attention to people that I’m compared to because I think it kind of clouds your judgment. I always try to forge my own path. It’s very important for me not to fall into traps about what’s trendy or what’s cool right now. You just have to go with your gut instinct, I think.
Street: Has your taste changed through the years?
MB: It has, but it’s been very gradual. You can very clearly map the kind of gateway bands that you’re into and what leads into other stuff. When I was younger I was into metal, rock, punk stuff, then I got into post–punk, dub and electronica. All of those genres have crossover bands that exist in a grey area between two genres, so it’s easy to pinpoint what bands got me into which genres, but it’s just been a gradual process over the years.
Street: One thing that strikes us about your music is that there’s a real sense of atmosphere—in songwriting do you focus more on this or on song structure?
MB: I guess it’s about 50/50. I like creating songs that people can engage with, so they’re not that crazy structurally—they’re almost like pop songs, with verse, chorus, blah blah blah, but the exciting thing for me is playing around with atmosphere and tweaking sounds and textures to change how people engage with it. I spend a lot of time taking layers away and adding layers on. It’s a really important part of the song–making process for me.
Street: You went to art school for graphic design—is your creative process for visual art similar to your musical creative process?
MB: I would say it’s pretty similar. When I make music, I work visually. On a laptop, I can see what’s happening; it’s the same as making something in Photoshop or making a painting. You add layers on and you scrub them away. It’s almost like a key turning in a lock and all of a sudden you’re like “oh, actually this kind of works.” They’re pretty similar processes; you just use different tools.
Street: What would you say is your favorite song to perform?
MB: For me, the live set feels like one piece, so I don’t think of it song by song. You can definitely tell which songs tweak the audience’s energy differently and which ones people engage with a bit more, but I think I’ve structured it so that there’s a narrative to it.
Street: Do you have any idols, musical or otherwise?
MB: Musically, I’d say someone like Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. I don’t think it’s good to put all your faith in one person; it’s good to have an array of people you admire so you can take different things from different people, but musically I’d say Brian Wilson. I’ve always been such a big fan of his.
Street: What current music have you been listening to lately?
MB: We’ve been touring in a van for the last few days so we’ve been hearing the same thing all the time: a lot of Little Jon, Young Thug, Beyoncé, Dean Blunt. I’ve been listening to a lot of Aphex Twin lately, and I’m constantly listening to people like Bjork.
Street: Do you have advice for the younger generation that wants to go into the music industry?
MB: Don’t follow a trend, don’t look at what’s cool now and think “I wanna make something that sounds exactly like this so I can be just as popular as this other person.” What I’ve learned is that people respond to you when you do something out of the box. Don’t keep it within a genre or a certain sound; just play around with things. I think people can hear honesty in music. You can really connect with something on a deeper level when you know it’s not trying to sound like something else.
Street: Last but not least, complete the following sentence: there are two types of musicians...
MB: (Laughs) That’s hard...I can’t think...
You know, I think [it’s because] I find it difficult to even comprehend being a musician. I can’t say “I’m this type of musician and this guy is someone else.” I only know what I do. It’s part of my identity; I just have kind of looked into it and it’s just something that I’m doing right now. [Laughs] That’s kind of an answer.
