Biography
Songwriter Matt Kivel launched his musical path early by establishing the indie outfit Princeton alongside his twin brother Jesse in 2005, building on prior years of joint performances and composition. During the 2000s he remained engaged with Princeton while also handling guitar duties for the garage pop group Gap Dream, before emerging independently in the early 2010s. His solo recordings marked a clear departure from those band roles through a restrained and deliberate songwriting method, evident on refined releases such as the 2016 set Fires on the Plain.
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Matt Kivel grew up in Santa Monica, California. Once he and his sibling converted their shared musical practice into a formal group, they adopted the name Princeton after the street where they had lived. The ensemble shifted to Los Angeles and spent the latter half of the 2000s touring and issuing buoyant indie rock. Near 2011 Kivel stepped away from additional band commitments to concentrate on solo work. Initial signs of this direction appeared via limited-edition cassettes, yet he fully asserted his voice with the 2013 album Double Exposure, issued by the Olde English Spelling Bee imprint. Those early solo pieces proved quieter than his prior projects, pairing luminous ambient synth textures with restrained acoustic arrangements and soft vocals. His follow-up, Days of Being Wild, was tracked with Palace Brothers participant Paul Oldham during the preceding summer and appeared on the Woodsist label in 2014. Two further solo efforts arrived in 2016: the starkly intimate Janus and the expansive Fires on the Plain, which included joint performances with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold. Frequent relocations marked this period as Kivel left the west coast first for Austin, Texas, and later New York. While based in Austin he composed and captured his fifth album, Last Night in America.
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Matt Kivel grew up in Santa Monica, California. Once he and his sibling converted their shared musical practice into a formal group, they adopted the name Princeton after the street where they had lived. The ensemble shifted to Los Angeles and spent the latter half of the 2000s touring and issuing buoyant indie rock. Near 2011 Kivel stepped away from additional band commitments to concentrate on solo work. Initial signs of this direction appeared via limited-edition cassettes, yet he fully asserted his voice with the 2013 album Double Exposure, issued by the Olde English Spelling Bee imprint. Those early solo pieces proved quieter than his prior projects, pairing luminous ambient synth textures with restrained acoustic arrangements and soft vocals. His follow-up, Days of Being Wild, was tracked with Palace Brothers participant Paul Oldham during the preceding summer and appeared on the Woodsist label in 2014. Two further solo efforts arrived in 2016: the starkly intimate Janus and the expansive Fires on the Plain, which included joint performances with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold. Frequent relocations marked this period as Kivel left the west coast first for Austin, Texas, and later New York. While based in Austin he composed and captured his fifth album, Last Night in America.
Albums
Singles
