Seven (musician)

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Matt Howden (* 1967) is a British violinist and singer who founded the music project Sieben in 1997 .

Band history and background

Howden was before and is musically active many times during his time at Sieben. B. as a music producer, university professor and guest musician in various bands. In his hometown of Sheffield he also runs the Red Room recording studio , which occasionally also functions as a label . After the debut album "Forbid the Sun's Escape" was recorded together with other permanent band members such as the singers Sally Doherty and Jane Howden , Sieben developed more and more from a band to Howden's sole project, which was responsible for composition, vocals and most of the instrumentation is responsible. Instead of continuing to work with permanent members, Howden occasionally allows guest musicians to participate in later works. Mostly these are artists from other bands like Spiritual Front , Larsen , The Walkabouts and Faith and the Muse .

Sieben enjoys a growing popularity with listeners of neofolk , dark wave and indie pop . So far, numerous seven concerts have taken place as part of the Leipzig Wave-Gotik-Treffen ; the largest audience in terms of numbers has been the opening act for New Model Army . His work on the Saw II soundtrack also contributes to Howden's greater fame .

Style and content orientation

The music of Sieben is primarily based on violin sounds. However, the violin is not only used as a string instrument, the strings are often plucked or worked percussively . The latter is complemented by one of the few other instruments, the wooden cajón . Howden knows how to create rhythmic sounds, especially in recent publications, that sound like conventional drums to inexperienced ears. The instrumentation is completed by a Loop - pedal for generating repeat effects. This device is particularly suitable for concerts, which are now mostly held solo, to bridge the passages in which Howden sings. Sieben's music stylistically combines classical, popular and folk elements - a mixture that is often compared to film music and has a slightly melancholy mood.

Most of Sieben's releases are concept albums in the context of a specific content motif or topic. The text of “The Line and the Hook” deals with the sufferings of the soldiers of the First World War , while other works address either more abstract topics such as sensual perception and rites of desire, but also more specific ones such as the sexual symbolism of various types of flowers or the traces of absent people in abandoned rooms . The latter was the main focus of the album “Our Solitary Confinement”, which was part of an intermedia installation in which the music was combined with photographs by the Danish artist Kristine Haffgaard . As in other publications, the lyrics here have a strongly narrative and sketchy character, the thematic context is musically underpinned by a leitmotif structure.

Matt Howden occasionally records music under his real name. This originally goes back to the plan to operate Sieben as a larger band project. The solo albums are mostly instrumental and tonally minimalistic, but show stylistic parallels to seven due to the concise violin playing.

Publications

With Project Seven

  • Forbid The Sun's Escape (CD 1999)
  • The Line And The Hook (CD 2001)
  • Our Solitay Confinement (CD 2002)
  • Sex And Wildflowers (CD 2003)
  • Writ In Water (MCD 2004, Split with HaWthorn and Sol Invictus )
  • Ogham Inside The Night (CD 2005)
  • High Broad Field (CD + DVD 2006)
  • Desire Rites (CD 2007)
  • Faun & The Pagan Folk Festival (CD 2008 collaboration with Faun and In Gowan Ring )
  • As They Should Sound (2009)
  • Star Wood Brick Firmament (2010)
  • No Less Than All (2012)
  • Each Divine Spark (2014)
  • The Old Magic (2016)
  • Crumbs (2018)

As Matt Howden

  • Intimate And Obstinate (CD 1999)
  • Hellfires (CD 2000)
  • Three Nine (CD 2000, with Tony Wakeford )
  • Wormwood (CD, 2003, with Tony Wakeford)
  • Spurge The Sun (CD, 2004, best of compilation, which also contains pieces by Sieben and HaWthorn)
  • Voyager (CD, 2004)
  • Robot World (CD, 2011)
  • Barley Top (CD & Book, 2013, with Keith Howden)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME seven
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Howden, Matt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British violinist and singer
DATE OF BIRTH 1967