Hudson Records Listening Club – M G Boulter – Clifftown
Sunday 2nd May – 10.30am
Serving his apprenticeship in numerous bands in the hotbed of the Southend-on-Sea pub rock scene (the precursors of which were household names such as Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hotrods), M G Boulter has been quietly working at creating rich and evocative story-songs since 2013. As Helen Gregory said here on Folk Radio – …with a CV as long as your arm; indeed, a list of who he hasn’t worked with would probably be shorter than a list of those he has.
He creates vignettes of suburban lives and seaside communities and is a contemporary voice in the long tradition of the singer-songwriter. His music has caught the worthy attention of the music press including Uncut “gorgeous in a word” as well as Folk Radio UK.
His 2016 second solo album ‘With Wolves The Lambs Will Lie‘ was a Featured Album of the Month on Folk Radio and in Helen Gregory’s review she concludes: “Anyone looking for instruction in the dark art of writing meaningful and original songs would be well-advised to give this a good, close listen; meanwhile, the rest of us will be over here, losing ourselves in Matt’s music.”
He is currently our Artist of the Month, reviewer Billy Rough, called his latest release Clifftown, a ‘thoroughly intoxicating listen’, an album ‘filled with gorgeous melodies and considered poetic song writing.’ He also had an in-depth chat with M G about his latest album here.
Clifftown, uniquely charts the characters, personal histories and stories of growing up in English seaside suburbia. It’s songs are both observant and affecting; here you will find the neon lights and burnt sugar smells of a Saturday night seafront but also the solitary Essex noir of the salt marshland. As M G demurely sings in the title track ‘Clifftown’, “Their kids grow up to a lawnmower drone/ their kids grow old and move away from home/ by seafront palisades they’re swapping smokes/before they’re gone”. The album was produced by ANdy Bell and features a roll call of musicians including Bellowhead’s Pete Flood and Sam Sweeney.
Here he is performing ‘Nights at the Aquarium’ live outside the Three Shells Cafe – Southend.
Join Hudson Records to listen to ‘Clifftown’ in its entirety on Sunday morning with commentary and insights from M G Boulter, Pete Flood, Lizzy O’Connor, Tom Lenthall and Helen & Andy Bell. Join the band online to chat and discuss the album throughout the listening club, say hello in the comments area. You can watch the live stream on Hudson Records’ YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/hudsonrecords), subscribe, like and follow to receive a notification just before the broadcast.
You can see previous Listening Clubs from the likes of Sam Sweeney, Salt House, Rowan Rheingans, The Lost Words Spells Songs, Karine Polwart, Martin Simpson, Flook, Kinnaris Quintet, Jon Boden and many more here.
Hudson Records Listening Club – M G Boulter – Clifftown
Sunday 2nd May – 10.30am
Streaming Link
https://www.youtube.com/hudsonrecords