Matthew Liam Nicholson is a composer and recording artist whose mesmerizing, subversive work bridges electro-acoustic ambient music, poetic dream-pop and contemporary ensemble composition, often extending into spiritually resonant, immersive meditative works for sound baths, art galleries and other contemplative listening environments. His background in indie rock and experimental music flows naturally into collaborations across film music and sync. 

 

Working across media scoring, composition, recording and album production for multiple decades, he has scored numerous short films, documentaries, features and art installations. His work has appeared at the Tribeca Festival and most recently at DOC NYC, where the documentary Y’Van: The Lost Sounds of Saigon—celebrated its world premiere ahead of release later this year - on which Nicholson recently completed almost 2 years of work.

 

Seamlessly moving through ambient, folk, rock, experimental, pop, electronic, psychedelic, modern classical, world, minimal and maximal modes, Nicholson's innovative work explores unity in diversity.

 

Collaboration and community building are central to Nicholson’s art. In 2018, from his home in Los Feliz, Nicholson began hosting a series of string salon concerts with friends. From these gatherings emerged an ensemble now called Authority Figurines and nascent label collective called METONYM, which has since bloomed into an ongoing concert series with LA collaborators including Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Brendan Eder & Joshua Rubin. 

 

METONYM ran a concert series throughout 2025, gifted for free to our community, recorded everything - and is now preparing a series new releases.

 

Filmmakers drawn to composers such as Gustavo Santaolalla, Warren Ellis, Mica Levi will likely find a natural affinity with Nicholson’s work. 

 

He is interested in developing further collaborations in film scoring with thoughtful and innovative creative teams.