Matthew Himes - Hemlock & Bergamot (2023)

Summer Solstice is the day those of us in the Northern Hemisphere receive the most direct sunlight of the year, which seems the perfect time to reveal this fresh work of luminous free folk and pastoral psychedelia for the new millennium.

This is Matthew's first full-length album to be released under his own name, and it's a welcome return to songwriting after a period without.

"Hemlock & Bergamot" offers a dusty allegory, both lullaby, and lament. A gesture to remind of both the knots tightly tied and loose ends unraveled. Seven songs of dreams and reality, rooted in the spaces between. A story told of both past reflection and forward projection, tales of trauma framed as spectral encounter, and the road to recovery through love and light.


"Really sublime experimental loner folk from this mysterious Minnesotan, who writes intimate and melancholic tunes, that are nearly tone poems. Some cuts trickle into pure expansive psychedelia... a cohesive spareness and phantasmagoric vibe, with even a rustic flavor at times— recommended for fans of Simon Finn, Alastair Galbraith, Daniel Johnston, and both Nico and Nicodemus." - Steven Krakow


"... at once both lonesome and intimate... filled with the hope and light of a bright new dawn." - Record Crates United

"Further north here in Minnesota, Matthew Himes is creating his own brand of backwoods psychedelia...a really strong return to songwriting that sounds like a fresh new chapter..." - Free Form Freakout

Tracklist:
1.01 - Matthew Himes - Lay Low (3:52)
1.02 - Matthew Himes - The Shadow (6:14)
1.03 - Matthew Himes - I Say No (3:11)
1.04 - Matthew Himes - Hemlock & Bergamot (4:41)
1.05 - Matthew Himes - I Feel Fine (4:21)
1.06 - Matthew Himes - Without Fear (5:11)
1.07 - Matthew Himes - Always in the Morning (8:05)