I'm someone who writes a lot of songs. I have hundreds, but I only make an album when the right songs start to fall together. I love the album as a format. These are songs that belong together. The sum is greater than the parts. I have rules about my albums - 45 minutes max, no more than 12 songs. I try and make them the best quality I can within the budget I have.
Return of the idle drones (2022)
An album of political and protest songs. Recorded live in an 19th century Mill with long term guitarist James Youngjohns. A companion piece to 2012's Greedy Magicians.
"A brilliant record – stripped-down and intimate, angry, acerbic, funny and moving"
AMERICANA UK
"One of my albums of the year"
ADAM WILSON’s QUIET REVOLUTION
"Powerful and political songs, easy on the ear. Beautifully timeless"
ROCKING MAGPIE
“Offsets the darkness with decidedly upbeat and melodic music. More than a hint of a youthful Elvis Costello lurking here.”
BLABBER N SMOKE
"An impressive album that consistently hits you right where it hurts"
SLIM CHANCE
"Like the best protest singers Matt does it in a way that is listenable and sticks in the mind"
R2 ROCK N REEL
Savage Pilgrims (2020)
Songs presented as eleven short stories told by different narrators. It merges fact and fiction, weaving threads of people and places across centuries and continents. This is Americana rooted in British history and in Hill’s own upbringing in a working class culture obsessed with America. Recorded in an attic studio above The Kings Arms - a 19th century pub in Salford, where George Orwell used to drink. Performances were captured live with vintage microphones onto analogue tape, with sparse overdubs keeping it brittle and hushed, so the listener feels they are sat next to the storyteller.
"Perhaps his best. It feels timeless, deeply atmospheric. Thoroughly recommended"
AMERICANA UK
"Mesmerising tales of life, death and everything in between"
R2 ROCK N REEL
"Richly rewarding collection of spellbinding story songs"
HI-FI PLUS
"I can’t recommend this album highly enough. Trust me this is what Folk Music is really about"
ROCKING MAGPIE
"Songs of forgotten or underappreciated lives. An album I have little doubt you will want to keep going back to"
PENNYBLACK MUSIC
"Brimful of excellent songs. He’s a singular talent"
BLABBER N SMOKE
BATTLE FOR THE BALLOT (2017)
An album born from a unique collaboration between a museum and a songwriter. Matt Hill spent a year as 'songwriter in residence' at the People's History Museum - the national museum of democracy. Working alongside museum curators and drawing on historical source materials and first hand testimonies, Hill has brought back to life voices from the past. The songs tell the story of the men and women - reformers, revolutionaries, campaigners, chartists, suffragists and suffragettes - who fought for our right to vote.
“An absolute gem. Hill is an incredibly talented writer and these superb songs and his slow measured voice paint pictures”
THE MORNING STAR - ALBUM OF THE YEAR
“A reminder of the song writing powers of Matt Hill. It’s Hill at his most passionate and inflamed. It made me feel humble and inspired”
AMERICANA UK
“A canny story teller. If Matt Hill never writes or sings another song ever again he can die a happy man for creating this masterpiece”
ROCKING MAGPIE
GREEDY MAGICIANS (2012)
A collection of contemporary protest songs recorded live in an 18th century church in Salford, an area steeped in radicalism. A powerful atmosphere permeates this record. A statement about standing up and speaking out, about knowing your history and, most importantly, about how community is our strength and our hope.
“This was a very, very special evening. Nobody left that building unmoved”
AMERICANA UK
“Probably the most important record of the year”
MAVERICK MAGAZINE
“A strong album about standing up and being counted”
FATEA
“He gets the tone spot-on evoking an authentic spirit of English folk music. A superb album”
PENNYBLACK MUSIC
“A powerful rallying cry”
BILLY BRAGG
SPECTROLOGY (2010)
A back-to-basics collection delivered with a lightness of touch and a gentle humour. The songs celebrate the cycle of life where renewal, and even redemption are found in the small simple intimacies of life – a morning lie-in, an evening stroll or a slow dance with a lover. This stark and honest collection of performances was recorded deep in the Leicestershire countryside during the big freeze of January 2010 and features special guest Inge Thomson (Karine Polwart, Bonnie Prince Billy)
“Delicate songwriting, with hints of folk and Americana. Bleakly beautiful"
UNCUT
“He gathers his songs around him and weaves them into works of wonder”
R2 ROCK N REEL
“The Loner's unvarnished, acoustic guitar-gilded explorations shine”
THE DAILY MIRROR
“An outstanding record. Uplifting and inspiring” MAVERICK
“Dissecting heartbreak with surgical precision. Highly recommended” AMERICANA UK