Biography
Since the mid-1990s Matt Elliott has crafted music marked by its dark, haunting, and occasionally apocalyptic character while working as a guitarist, singer, and electronic artist. Early on he performed in multiple space-rock outfits based in his hometown of Bristol, England, among them Flying Saucer Attack, AMP, and Movietone. Beginning in 1996 he issued a steady stream of albums and EPs through his pioneering Third Eye Foundation endeavor, whose sound fused claustrophobic jungle rhythms and hip-hop breakbeats with abrasive layers of guitars and found samples to produce some of the era’s most abrasive and disquieting electronic work. In 1997 the project and V/Vm divided the opening release in FatCat’s acclaimed Split Series. Four respected full-lengths appeared on Domino in the United Kingdom and Merge in the United States; the latter label also put out the 2001 anthology I Poo Poo on Your Juju, which gathered remixes created for Blonde Redhead, Tarwater, Yann Tiersen, and additional artists.
Under his own name Elliott issued his first solo album, The Mess We Made, in 2003. The change of billing coincided with a turn away from electronics toward somber, oneiric experimental folk. After that record he relocated to France and joined the roster of the local label Ici D’Ailleurs. Later releases drew heavily on chanson traditions and Eastern European sources yet retained the earlier work’s somber outlook, a continuity reflected in album titles such as Drinking Songs and Failing Songs. During 2009 he took part in This Immortal Coil, a collective homage to Coil’s Jhonn Balance that also featured Tiersen, DAAU, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy; Ici D’Ailleurs released the resulting album The Dark Age of Love. The same year Elliott joined Tiersen’s touring party both as support act and as a member of the ensemble. He revived the Third Eye Foundation name in 2010 for the politically charged release The Dark, then reverted to his own name for 2012’s The Broken Man. Only Myocardial Infarction Can Break Your Heart appeared the following year, with The Calm Before emerging three years after that.
Under his own name Elliott issued his first solo album, The Mess We Made, in 2003. The change of billing coincided with a turn away from electronics toward somber, oneiric experimental folk. After that record he relocated to France and joined the roster of the local label Ici D’Ailleurs. Later releases drew heavily on chanson traditions and Eastern European sources yet retained the earlier work’s somber outlook, a continuity reflected in album titles such as Drinking Songs and Failing Songs. During 2009 he took part in This Immortal Coil, a collective homage to Coil’s Jhonn Balance that also featured Tiersen, DAAU, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy; Ici D’Ailleurs released the resulting album The Dark Age of Love. The same year Elliott joined Tiersen’s touring party both as support act and as a member of the ensemble. He revived the Third Eye Foundation name in 2010 for the politically charged release The Dark, then reverted to his own name for 2012’s The Broken Man. Only Myocardial Infarction Can Break Your Heart appeared the following year, with The Calm Before emerging three years after that.
Albums
Singles
