ALTESCAPE_ have been thrilled to be able to speak, directly, with Matter Of Mind's lead vocalist J Lambert. J was able to give an insight into the influences behind the latest releases 'The Killing Of You And I' and 'Oblivion', as well as to discuss the band's big plans for the months ahead.
The 4-piece outfit, from Stockport, channel Rock, Pop, Emo, and more recently Metalcore, into their unique, emotionally driven sound. Matter Of Mind is made up of vocalist and guitarist, J Lambert, bassist, Rob Bramwell, lead guitarist, Ash Meadowcroft, and drummer, Tom Downs.
With two EP's already released, and multiple singles, the band's musical progression is evident, this is especially visible in their 2020 releases, 'Poison Ivy', 'Oblivion', and 'The Killing Of You And I'. Regarding, the group's development musically, J spoke for the band and said that 'we continue to grow as musicians and importantly, song writers. We know the direction we want to go in and we’re constantly writing more and more'.
Matter Of Mind released their latest single, 'The Killing Of You And I', on November 6th 2020. The track displays the band's distinct sound, and emotionally powered lyrics, whilst toying with some heavier attributes- almost breaching into the Metalcore genre. Talking to J about what was the main inspiration and fuel for this song, the vocalist discussed his connection with lyrics as a tool for processing emotions. 'The track was written as a kind of coping mechanism for myself, I find writing lyrics extremely cathartic and it tends to help me make sense of situations that I sometimes can’t process right away. It was inspired by a breakup that I was going through that felt, to me, quite sudden and abrupt. I think most people have experienced this and it’s a really tough thing to go through, so I just hope this song maybe helps someone get through it the way that it helped me. I like to think that my lyrics are quite open and honest, sometimes thats a scary thing for me to put out into the world, but I find that lyrics that are honest tend to be the better kind so I kinda just went for it all in on this track'.
In terms of the band's inclusion of heavier, metal influences, J regarded that 'we’ve always wanted to go a little heavier, if the song deserves it, so we did it. Personally, I’ve loved adding more screams into our songs and it’s definitely something I want to do more of. As a band, we cross over a fair few different genres, we love to throw all our influences in their, so who knows what you might hear next!' With Matter Of Minds music spanning across multiple genres, the band's huge potential, and unique attitude to music-making is emphasised- leaving an assortment of doors open for their musical direction in the future.
Whilst conversing with J, something that felt significant to ask the band was about the recent single 'Oblivion', and its inclusion of mental health struggles. Deeply listening to the track, it felt like a rejection of reality, posing this idea to J, this was his response: 'unfortunately, mental health has been a bit of a struggle for me. Particularly, anxiety. I think it’s so so important to speak about these things, as even in todays society, it can be swept under the rug. I think the phrase you used there ‘rejection of reality’ sums up how I was feeling at the time perfectly. I didn’t want to go out and live my life, I just wanted to recluse away. I wanted to write about how I was feeling so that someone else may be able to relate to it, and as cliche as it sounds, I wanted someone to know they’re not alone.' The lyrics driven from a place of inner darkness and battles, importantly, provides a connection from Matter Of Mind to their audience, and to reiterate J's point: it certainly does help people to not to feel alone.
The group formed whilst still in high school, and fondly remember countless lunchtimes practising in the music room, 'we’d often end up putting on lunchtime gigs without even realising. We’d start practising (usually playing really shit covers of blink-182 songs or something like that), and before we knew it, all our mates would be in the room singing along. The teachers weren’t too impressed and would end up kicking everyone out. Fun Times'. Since then, the band's dynamic has had a few changes, the biggest being the entrance of new drummer, Tom Downs. Regarding the band's new member, vocalist and guitarist, J said that 'we’ve all been so motivated and Tom has breathed some new life into our band that we didn’t even know we needed, but we’re extremely thankful for it. It’s great to have him and he’s definitely pushed us musically as he’s such a talented musician.'
Finally, after the 3 incredible releases, in 2020, we wanted to know what is coming next for the band; are they building up to a new EP or possibly a full album? In response to this, J did not explicitly say what Matter Of Mind have instal for us, all we know is that big things are coming soon: 'we have so much planned. We’re currently sitting on some of the best music we’ve ever written, and we cannot wait to release it into the world. It’s been a massive shame we’ve not been able to tour due to the pandemic, but one thing we’ve definitely not done is sit around on our arses. We’ve used the time to our advantage, and we’re hungry for more now more than ever. We have lots planned for these coming months, and we can’t wait to have you along for the ride'.
We look forward to the what Matter Of Mind have planned for us in the near future, and can't wait for a time when we can see them live!
Check out the latest releases below.
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