composer deck
AUDIO REEL 2024
BIOGRAPHY
Matthew Liam Nicholson is a highly intuitive, mercurial, transcendent musical channel with an innate understanding of music's ability to communicate just about anything. "A freak for sound" (Pitchfork), with a "clear authorial voice" (The Wire).
Seamlessly moving through ambient, folk, rock, jazz, experimental, pop, electronic, psychedelic, modern classical, world, minimal and maximal modes, Nicholson's innovative work explores unity in diversity - as represented in his Portfolio.
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Nicholson started out leading original bands in Australia as a teenager - since traveling, recording, performing and living in many far corners of the world - eventually being granted an honorary music degree by two Chicago music professors, based on his extensive musical experience, while applying for his US residency.
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Steadily building Film & TV score credits over the past decade - as well as the lush, ecstatic, eclectic albums he is known for, Nicholson's music can be heard increasingly in feature film, television, short film, advertisement, art installations, soundtracks, music videos and various forms of internet media.
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Working now from a harmonious garden studio upon a forested mountainside in Northern California, Matthew visits and works in Los Angeles frequently.
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​Film makers who resonate with composers such as Gustavo Santoalalla, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Stetson, Carter Burwell, Thomas Newman, Warren Ellis, Jon Brion, Daniel Lopatin, Tim Hecker, Mica Levi, Johann Johannsson et al, will likely find much to enjoy in the works of Matthew Liam Nicholson.
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Multiple film scores, collaborations and albums are presently in the works, a few of which are featured below:
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Y'Van - The Lost Sounds of Saigon
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Introducing Homeopathy (Netflix)
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PRESS
“Ambient music can often be theoretical or medicinal;
this record is both”
- The Guardian
"Overwhelming compositional talents and production styles"
- Boomkat
"Orchestral ranks marshaled with stunning composure and restraint"
- Uncut
"A sonic kaleidoscope”
- Vice
"Almost impossibly beautiful... pristine folk, field recordings, pop melodies, jazz-like bursts of dissonance and sampled world music intervals,...immediately arresting"
- Dusted
"The raw thrashing of rustic instrumentation treads alongside mercurial, abstract electronics, forging a sublime juxtaposition."
- Nuemu
“Angelic textures, dreamy pop songs, aerial drones, sumptuous arrangements and improvisations.....provides a deep sense of well being and soothing freedom - music that is shared between families, between people with similar sensitivity. Masterpiece."
- Rock It To The Moon
"Australian-born Matthew Liam Nicholson creates ethereal experimental folk rock, combining unexpected instrumentation with haunting melodies to create a universe all his own...with a timeless quality that puts him far above the average singer/songwriter. For fans of Sufjan Stevens, Father John Misty & Animal Collective"
- Koze Music
“Fans of The Books, Low & Broken Social Scene need to hear this densely layered pop masterpiece”
- Reckless
"If pain persists, put it on again."
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why hire me?
01
Unique skillset, experience, sensibility
As composer, musical director, multi-instrumentalist, band leader, sound artist, guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and sensitive team player, I am able to take as much creative direction in a project as is appropriate.
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02
Articulate communicator
Music is communication - and knowing how to communicate creatively about music for any specific purpose is as important as being able to compose it, when relating with a team.
03
Born collaborator
I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to have ollaborated with hundreds of creatives across this planet. I'm sensitive to what any team or project requires to thrive in the music department - and bring all my intelligence, humor, energy and connections to making it so.
04
My global network of musicians
Blessed with a lot of stupendously talented artist friends all over the world, I enjoy ongoing collaborations with a diverse range of musicians across a spectrum of musical approaches, to call on for parts whenever it is required.