Big Search

Matthew Popieluch, a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, developed Big Search as his solo outlet after first gaining notice through his contributions to the indie rock band Foreign Born in the mid-2000s. Continuous recording occurred throughout, yet the project's experimental, lo-fi acoustic folk remained largely undeveloped for nearly its opening decade until focused work yielded more unified pop statements, among them Role Reversal in 2014 and Life Dollars in 2016, the latter appearing on Sony-owned 30th Century Records. Those relaxed West Coast textures turned even more refined with the 2019 release Slow Fascination.

Popieluch's activity under the Big Search name originated during his early-2000s college years at San Francisco State University, where he produced ninety-minute cassettes of breezy, somewhat ramshackle West Coast folk on a four-track recorder. He tracked the first official Big Search album, Mysticism vs. Classicism, inside the garage of a house shared with Luke Top of Fool's Gold and Jason Quever of Papercuts. Before that record appeared, however, he relocated to Los Angeles to prioritize Foreign Born, the indie rock band he had formed with Lewis Pesacov. Mysticism vs. Classicism eventually received a limited release in 2006 on Top's short-lived Grand Gallop label; although shows continued under the Big Search moniker, Foreign Born stayed Popieluch's more visible endeavor during those years.

Once Foreign Born concluded its run at the decade's end, Popieluch prepared the next Big Search effort, the loose and exploratory Lay of the Land, issued in 2010 by the St. Ives label. He maintained a presence in the Los Angeles scene over the ensuing years, releasing occasional modest independent Big Search items such as the 2011 seven-inch pairing "Middle Man" with "Getting Warm" and the album Role Reversal in 2014. A more prominent return arrived in 2016 when he signed with Danger Mouse's 30th Century Records and delivered Life Dollars, shifting Big Search toward a dreamier West Coast pop direction. That emphasis on polished arrangements and understated soft rock persisted through Slow Fascination, which surfaced in 2019.