Music Arcades: Matt Howden: Intimate and Obstinate

I went with D to a dance performance at the Crucible Studio in 2001 or early 2002, where the music was performed live by a violinist who was playing phrases into a sampler and then looping the samples while he added more on top of them. I don't know whether he was improvising or had all his ideas prepared, but the sound he created was sublime (better than the dance, which I think may have been a schools and colleges project). I was so overwhelmed that I did something I don't often do, which was to go over to the guy as we trooped out and tell him how beautiful I'd found his playing.

Ten minutes later we're in the bar with D's dance friends, and — I suppose I should have seen this coming — the violinist greets them and comes to join us for a drink. It would have been much worse had I just spat in his ear, but, having instead been uncharacteristically obsequious, I was still a little embarrassed.

The violinist was Matt Howden. I don't think he had any CDs with him that night, but one Friday the next year he was playing a small gig at Access Space when I happened to be up in Sheffield again. That's when I got this album.

Intimate; Allude is the most immediately attractive of the tracks on the album, but the whole thing works very well in terms of its balance of melody with noise, and of 'natural' instruments with treated sounds. Ideal for dance or soundtrack use, I'd imagine. Also the more rhythmic pieces are vaguely reminiscent, dare I say, of early-80s Klaus Schulze, particularly Trancefer.

Matt's website has a mail order section, but this album doesn't seem to be listed there at the moment.