Kristian matsson biography

Swedish singer-songwriter (born 1983)

For a list of the tallest people on earth, see List of tallest people.

Musical artist

Kristian Matsson (born 30 April 1983) is a Swedish singer-songwriter who performs under the stage name The Tallest Man on Earth. Matsson grew up in Leksand, and began his solo career in 2006, having previously been the lead singer of the indie band Montezumas. His music has often drawn comparisons to the music of Bob Dylan.

Since 2006, Matsson has released seven full-length albums and four EPs. He records and produces these in his home, and usually records his voice and guitar together on one track. He is known for his charismatic stage presence.

He was previously married to Amanda Bergman, also known by the stage name Idiot Wind. Together, they wrote the music for the Swedish drama film Once a Year.

Career

Before Matsson began his solo career, he was the lead singer of the indie band Montezumas.

His first solo release, The Tallest Man on Earth, was released in 2006. The EP received positive reviews.

At the start of his solo career, Matsson did not plan to make music full-time, and he released his music without providing personal information or photographs of himself to journalists.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of The Wild Hunt, Matsson released a cover of "Graceland" by Paul Simon through Dead Oceans.

Shallow Grave (2008–2009)

In 2008, Matsson released an album, Shallow Grave, which was praised by the music site Pitchfork and was listed #47 on Pitchfork's list of the 50 Best Albums of 2008. The album received generally favorable reviews. Following Shallow Grave's release, Matsson was chosen as the opening act for the American indie folk band Bon Iver. The res

“Matsson is so natural a songwriter that these tracks feel predetermined, tumbling out of his mouth with an ease and grace that's increasingly uncommon,” wrote Pitchfork. Another review said that Matsson “represents the highest class in this art form—someone who can make you forget that folk songs have existed for longer than the time since this album began spinning.”

Matsson appeared on the scene at the high water mark for indie folk, in 2008: Fleet Foxes released their first record of vibey Appalachian acapella, the same year Shallow Grave came out. Mumford & Sons were charting. That one Edward Sharpe song was everywhere. As the industry cashed in and artists like Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver moved in differentsonic directions, here was some guy from Sweden writing songs on a guitar that were spare, earnest, authentic. If there’s even a tiny part of you that desires to connect with a less ironic, and maybe even less cynical, version of yourself, the Tallest Man on Earth can help get you there.

After his breakout, Matsson spent much of his time in the US, either touring the country or living in his apartment in Brooklyn. He got the farm to have a place to stay for the few months a year he was back in Sweden. But his life was centered in Carroll Gardens, not Dalarna.

The farm isn’t strictly traditional—the buildings aren’t painted the traditional Falu red—but it is really old. “This house was built in the 1800s. The story is that a farmer, who seems to have been a real stand-up dude, gave it to two sisters. But of course they weren’t sisters, they were a couple,” says Matsson. “So they lived here and grew cherries. They would take them down to the river there and go across because there was a market on the other side.”

In addition to the main house, the property has three barns. One is even older than the house, dating back to the 1600s. “These old seed barns are very common around here, but this is the oldest one in this village, so I can brag ab

You play different instruments, but I’m curious to know about your relationship with your voice and with singing. I’ve been listening to your albums and I’ve noticed how it’s changed. Was singing something that you were comfortable doing from the beginning? How has this relationship with your voice evolved over the years?

I’ve been comfortable with singing all the time. I come from a garage rock and punk background. So in the beginning, I didn’t care about singing pretty, and I am super grateful that I have this thing in my life that I can express myself in such an abstract way. Even if I write a song and have the lyrics, the song can be different every night because I can sing it in a different way. In the early records, I was super into lo-fi recordings, so I would record myself on these old tape recorders that always weren’t true to speed or pitch when you played it back. And the recordings had a special timbre.

But then also at the beginning when I started playing as Tallest Man on Earth, I played in very small venues with really bad PAs or not a PA at all. And I came from a punk background where I just needed to be heard. And I would project my voice just to make it cut through. And it worked. I could put on a little rock show, even though I was seemingly a little singer-songwriter. But I could run around, I could yell because I had to, that was the only way to be heard. But over the years, I’ve started to play at bigger venues with great PAs where I don’t have to yell. And I would happily adapt to that because then I could finally have some dynamics and have so many different voices that we have throughout music history that I love that I could try to be inspired from.

You also are good at engaging with the audience and working with the crowd. Is there something that you learned throughout the years on how to engage with the audience?

When I played in a rock band I didn’t have to play guitar. I could lit

Kristian Matsson has never remained in one place for very long. Having spent much of the last decade touring around the world as The Tallest Man On Earth, Matsson has captivated audiences using, as The New York Times describes, “every inch of his long guitar cord to roam the stage: darting around, crouching, stretching, hip-twitching, perching briefly and jittering away…Mr. Matsson is a guitar-slinger rooted in folk, and his songs are troubadour ballads at heart.” 

Then came 2020, when Matsson left New York City and returned to his farm in Sweden. There, during that quiet, dreary time of isolation, he drowned out his thoughts by manically growing vegetables in his garden. When he tried writing again, during those many months of collective forced solitude, “I just found myself commenting on the darkness,” Matsson says. “I lost my imagination.” Playing live, music and inspiration returned near the end of 2021, and his produce became less of a priority. “When I’m in motion, I can focus on my instinct, have my daydreams again. When I was finally able to tour again, I started writing like a madman.” He eventually had twenty songs he wanted to record in ten days.  

Now, Matsson returns as The Tallest Man On Earth with Henry St., his sixth studio album following 2012’s There’s No Leaving Now, full of “vivid imagery, clever turns-of-phrase, and devastating, world-weary observations” (Under The Radar),2015’s Dark Bird Is A Home, his “most personal record… surreal and dreamlike” (Pitchfork) and and the self-released I Love You, It’s a Fever Dream in 2019. Henry St. notably marks the first time he recorded an album in a band setting. “My entire career I’ve been a DIY person––mostly fueled by the feeling that I didn’t know what I was doing, so I’d just do everything myself.” But now, longing for the energy that’s only released when creating together with others, Matsson invited his friends to come and play.  

 Nick Sanborn (