Matthew Halsall enters a new phase with Salute To The Sun

Portrait by Emily Dennison

Renowned trumpeter and songwriter Matthew Halsall has dropped his latest album, Salute To The Sun. It’s a next phase of sorts, having been five years since last album Into Forever and marking the debut of his new band.

 “I feel Salute to the Sun is a positive earthy album. I wanted to create something playful but also quite primitive, earthy and organic that connected to the sounds in nature. I was listening to lush ambient field recordings of tropical environments such as jungles and rainforests and found myself drawn to percussive atmospheric sounds which replicated what I was hearing (bells / shakers / chimes / rain sticks) and I started to experiment with more wooden percussive instruments such as kalimba and marimba”.

Matthew Halsall

Pre-Covid, the band were playing monthly sessions at Manchester’s YES: Matt Cliffe is on flute & saxophone, Maddie Herbert‘s on harp, Liviu Gheorghe on piano, Alan Taylor is drums and Jack McCarthy on percussion as well as long-time Halsall fam, bassist Gavin Barras.

Order the 2LP and (gorgeous, gold foil and gatefold) CD from Piccadilly Records or Bandcamp. You can also cop a shirt and slipmat from the Bandcamp store.

agentj

Agent J aka Jamie Groovement: writer, host, DJ and teacher. @jamiegroovement