Home Read Albums Of The Week: Matt Berry | Heard Noises

Albums Of The Week: Matt Berry | Heard Noises

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Following the huge acclaim that greeted his 2021 album The Blue Elephant — as well as last year’s one-off album of library music — musician and actor Matt Berry returns with Heard Noises, his eighth studio album.

In contrast to The Blue Elephant’s dizzying trip through an idiosyncratic love of British psych, freakbeat, acid rock and late ’60s pop, Heard Noises finds Berry heading for a looser, Californian psychedelia through his love of the trippier sounds of space pop and rock, and his ear for an eerie, haunting melody.

Once again, the album is testament to Matt’s exceptional musicianship, production skills and songwriting prowess. He plays almost every instrument, including guitars, bass and a hugevariety of keyboards — acoustic and electric pianos, synthesizers, organs and Mellotron.

He is joined by neo-progressive drummer (and long-time collaborator) Craig Blundell, while guests include actor Natasha Lyonne, Eric D. Johnson  of The Shins and Fruit Bats (on acoustic guitar, autoharp and backing vocals), Phil Scraggs (on lap steel), Rosie McDermott (on vocals) and The S. Club 60s Choir (featuring Matt’s mum).

The first single I Gotta Limit found Matt trading lines with Kitty Liv (Kitty, Daisy and Lewis) on a track about a man in search of a second chance with a woman impatient with his pleading. With a song structure inspired by Sly Stone, the three-minute I Gotta Limit crams a plethora of musical ideas into an instantly catchy song that’s part Northern soul, part psych.

In many ways, Heard Noises could be considered the perfect distillation of the extraordinary breadth of musical ideas across Matt’s albums to date.”