Matt Boroff
Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria | INDIE
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Matt Boroff
Reaching For Sparks
American exile Matt Boroff has been releasing music for the past decade
from his adopted Austrian homeland. The environs have turned a dark
outlook even darker, as tales of mortality are laced in these songs ever so
touched by the in?uences of Tom Waits and Mark Lanegan. Boroff’s own
voice is throttled by introspection and a need to pass through the
frustrations by any means necessary. “Dead Dead Leaves” turns autumn into
a funeral march. The stereoscape rides a wave of instrumental starbursts
that crack down hard and evil. “Oh, The Horror” plays like a bucolic walk
through the woods where something unfortunate threatens to step forth
from behind every tree. “Going Blind” opens the sound to grander tones
while the lyrics close in on obsessive self-identity. “Things You Should
Know” blurs the line between fact and ?ction with a waltz towards eternity.
“They’re On Their Way” pleads for a rational voice in a world based on fear
mongering. It’s an album that celebrates life by looking it square in the eye
and settling for what beauty can be scavenged.
(Rob O'connor / Itunes 01.10.2010) - Itunes
Singer / Songwriter
Reaching For Sparks
MATT BOROFF
Album of the week - Perhaps the most beautiful album of the
entire Winter. The New Jersey Songwriter serves up 11
bittersweet tracks, which not only live from their marvelous
melodies alone, but also from the production's unbelievable
attention to detail. The album is nearly overflowing with sound
but it never becomes straining, each number floats with an airy
melancholy. - special guest - Hans Platzgumer
(Adreas Russ/Kurier, printed, 04.12.2010) - Kurier
Matt Boroff - Reaching For Sparks (Lo-End Records): American-born, Austrian-exile, Matt Boroff has been quietly releasing albums and recording film scores for the past decade, with and without his band, the Mirrors. However, Reaching For Sparks is the album that changes life as we know it. It's a despair pit of existential tunes like "Dead Dead Leaves" and "Scattering Ashes" where the Mark Lanegan-Tom Waits-Captain Beefheart influences turn into their own stunning Boroffian language. If you can't dig "They're On Their Way", why do I know you?
Not just a great album, but an important part of a balanced diet. Y! Music's List Of The Day names it "Album Of The Year." - Yahoo!
A Sad Waltz
Matt Boroff presents his solo debut, “Reaching for
Sparks“, while Grinderman bellows at The Gasometer.
Oct. 8th 2010
Vienna - Matt Boroff vs. Grinderman. It could easily remind
one of David and Goliath. While blues berserkers Grinderman
and their master Nick Cave will be at the Gasometer on
Sunday offering up their latest testosterone fueled assault, Matt
Boroff will be presenting his solo album Reaching For Sparks
at The Rhiz. Both concerts have something to offer a music
lover.
Matt Boroff is an American living in Vorarlberg who's best
known as the frontman / guitarist of the grinding, blues rooted
Matt Boroff & The Mirrors. With his solo album he delivers
something more emotionally intricate that's colored by an array
of instrumentation. The tapestries created by horns, mandolins,
cello, upright bass or viola remind one every now and then of
British Pop Dandy Neil Hannon and his band The Divine
Comedy. Indulgent melodies that conjure up melancholy
images of sailors lost at sea are coupled with eloquent
songwriting and diverse arrangements. It's a sound that works
best when listened to late at night. The tarnished production
would certainly please Joe Henry. Reaching For Sparks is an
album that could've been released at any point in the last four
decades.
Nearly anything goes. An homage to Tom Waits such as I am
the Human Clock to ballads which would please the likes of
Mark Everett of The Eels or Mark Eitzel of American Music
Club. Sly, and full of black humor. Once again someone
squeezes an accordion and the horns start wailing. The world
becomes a sad waltz. One could hardly wish for a more
contrasting program to Grinderman: highly recommended!
(Karl Fluch/DER STANDARD, printed, 10.08.2010) - DER STANDARD
Discography
LP's - Reaching For Sparks - 2010
Photos
Bio
A singer / songwriter / guitarist from Northern New Jersey Matt Boroff spent the nineties playing clubs and touring with his former band Planet Dread. In the late nineties he began playing solo gigs in NYC during which time he met his future Austrian wife Marion Keckeis.Matt and Marion relocated to Austria in 2000 where he met drummer Little Konzett and formed basis of the band Matt Boroff &the Mirrors.
The Mirrors made a solid name for themselves among music aficionados and fans all over the world.The three albums that Matt has released with the Mirrors contain an extremely unique type of desert rock that has much in common with film music. This similarity to film music hasn't gone unnoticed by those in the film industry. Five Matt Boroff & the Mirrors songs were used in the film "Little Fish Strange Pond" last year in addition to original music that Matt composed for the film.
The release of the solo album isn't a signal that the Mirrors are a thing of the past but more accurately it's a new direction that the many sided singer / guitarist is pursuing in order to expand his musical horizons. At a glance Matt's solo album "Reaching for Sparks" sounds much calmer than his work with the Mirrors, but only at a glance. A deeper investigation reveals Matt Boroff to be a powerful Singer / Songwriter and the solo trip truly captivates the listener with it's wide ranging influences drawn from a broad palette of artistic worlds.
After listening to the strings, horns, pianos and more unusual sounds that color the album, the fact that Matt Boroff works in film doesn't come as a surprise. It makes even more sense when you learn that he's also the graphic artist behind the phantasmagorical visual world of the Mirrors. Although the scenery that the melodies and lyrics of RFS create is often shadowy, something musically beautiful always seems to emerge from the songs. A theatrical tone runs through the entire album and even when it moves through apocalyptic themes and the depths of human abyss, it does so with an emphasis on the fact that darkness and light arise mutually. All this can be summed up by viewing the cover artwork for which Matt Boroff is also responsible.Reaching for Sparks was released in October of 2010 and will be followed by several tours in 2011.
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