Review Fix Exclusive: Matthew Morgan Talks ‘Empathy For Inanimate Objects’ EP

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Matthew Morgan, who discusses his new EP, “Empathy For Inanimate Objects.” With a voice that’ll remind many older ears of a less gruff Marc Cohen, with shades of James Taylor, Matthew Morgan’s new EP, “Empathy For Inanimate Objects” is an assortment of tracks that show off the artist’s versatility and penchant for telling solid stories, making the collection truly memorable.

Make no mistake, there’s not a lackluster track on the EP, but there’s only one or two where you’ll want to leave them on repeat. More like tracks that’ll catch your ears in a hipster bar or Starbucks, they’re catchy, but most (three out the five on the EP) are not enough. But that’s at his worst. At his best, Morgan’s a singer that has a wonderful group of musicians behind him, weaving a new almost symphony of Americana goodness.

Review Fix: What was it like putting this EP together?

Matthew Morgan: Recording “Empathy” has been one of the most rewarding and gratifying experiences of my life and it was really exciting working with Nate Lockwood. Nate is a young guy, but as a producer he comes across with an enormous amount of confidence, knowledge and professionalism that overshadows his young age. It was very important to me that this album sound sincere and Nate and I had a lot of pre-planning discussions where we agreed that the overall recording should be raw enough to sound like it could be a live performance. All of the string noise is in there. The only major challenge with recording this album is that Nate lives and works in Ohio and I live in Chicago, IL, so it took a lot of time and patience due to the amount of traveling back-n-forth. Overall, it took about a year to finish the EP and since I’m releasing it independently I used up most of my savings. Luckily, I have some of the best fans/friends in the world and they helped me raise close to $2500 on Indiegogo in order to manufacture CDs, vinyl, and t-shirts.

Also, I got to meet and work with some incredible people like Chris Bosca who plays on several tracks on the EP and was gracious enough to let us use his amazing studio in Columbus, OH. He has an unbelievably cool collection of vintage guitars, many were used on this record. The slide on “Hold On” is a 1936 National Steel resonator that sounds gorgeous!

Review Fix: Where do you draw inspiration from?

Morgan: In the past I used to really struggle with what I wanted to say, so I would make more of an effort to have themes or literary references in my songs. In fact, my first solo CD “Red Silhouettes” was all about stories from the American Civil War. However, I’ve made a significant transition with my current writing to look inward and pull from my own experiences. Most of the songs on “Empathy” and in my current catalog were started on guitar and then I allowed melodies and basic word shapes to come free form as the songs developed and waited for the stories to arrive organically. At first I was afraid of doing this kind of thing because I was putting pressure on myself to sound intellectual, but now I feel like the songs are more truthful if they come from my own psyche. Much of what is on the new EP is a musical representation of me maturing as a songwriter and as a human being and part of that is me being less afraid to share my real thoughts with others.

Review Fix: How was “Hold On” written? Is there a story behind it?

Morgan: I don’t know if it’s a very interesting of a story, really. It’s more a matter of trying out an idea and getting lucky. Basically, I was in a phase of trying to learn how to play Nick Drake covers and he sometimes used a type of tuning in the key of “A” where the guitar is basically in standard tuning, but the “b” string is tuned down to an “a”. He used this tuning on a lot of melancholy tunes like “Clothes of Sand”. However, you can also use this tuning to invent some really dark sounding delta blues style stuff. So, I just starting riffing on this blues progression. At the time, I had just purchased a vintage copy of Sam & Dave’s “Greatest Hits” on vinyl and I started humming the chorus of “Hold On” over this little blues riff I was playing. It’s really just a lucky coincidence, but I like the contrast it makes from the original while rhythmically staying true to the feel of the original song written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter for the iconic soul duo, Sam & Dave. I think some people who are really into soul music will probably reject it, but soul/pop music grew directly out of what those blues guys were doing in dance halls and bars in the 30s/40s, so in my mind I’m at least pointing it back toward the source.

Review Fix: What do you think makes you different?

Morgan: I don’t really think I am so different and maybe that’s what makes me seem unique. I’m just trying to be a regular person and to be sincere in what I create. Vocally, I’m walking a fine line between sounding contemporary and “too pretty”. I studied opera and musical theater in college, so I’ve had a lot more training than most people who sing folk music. I could try to sound like everyone else, but then I’m not really being true to myself. As for writing, of course, I have influences, but I’m trying very hard to just release the songs that come to me when I’m alone and jamming in my apartment late at night. It’s really important to me to have it be authentic and just sound like your friend who happens to be a songwriter…but, possibly a little obsessed with doing it.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself from this EP?

Morgan: Patience. I’m not the type of person who is comfortable letting things evolve over time as I’m more apt to try and force an outcome. It has something to do with needing to be in control and a fear of failure, I guess. But, there wasn’t really any way for me to rush this given the circumstances of the recording sessions and my personal budget for the project. That said, I feel like the end result is much closer to what I wanted than anything else I’ve recorded in the past because we took the time to get everything right.

Review Fix: Why do you think folk and Americana have had such a resurgence over the last few years?

Morgan: The thing about folk/Americana music is that it never really goes away. No matter what genre is blowing up at the moment there are still roots albums being made and acoustic songs being recognized. It’s the basis of everything and that’s why it’s so ingrained in our culture. Personally, I think that a lot of people are tired of the manufactured music that is being pushed on us by the major music industry moguls because it has such a “ready-made” quality for mass consumption.  One of the primary features of folk music is the stripping away of extraneous sound to get to the purity of the song and the story-telling and I believe the sincerity of this music is exactly the opposite of the phoniness of the mainstream. I think I read somewhere that Damien Jurado said that he switched to folk music because folk is the new punk.

Review Fix: What do the next few months look like for you?

Morgan: I’m working with a great new band and we’re planning to kick of the release of the EP on vinyl at Chicago’s Subterranean on September 26th and in that same month I’m embarking on a short solo tour through Kansas City, Oklahoma, and Texas with a couple of other great songwriters from Chicago (Jeff Brown & Liz Chidester). Following that I’m working on putting together a separate vinyl release party for fans in Ohio sometime in November and hitting up some other cities around the Midwest. After that, I’ll be back in the studio working on some new tunes, loving life, and being grateful for whatever it brings.