Thin Lear

Hailing from Long Island, Queens-based singer/songwriter Matt Longo produces melancholy yet forceful material as Thin Lear that channels the spirit of masters such as Leonard Cohen, Sufjan Stevens, Emmylou Harris, and similar figures. On his 2020 debut album Wooden Cave, these classically structured chamber folk pieces delved into mortality, desolation, and optimism.

Longo spent his early years on Long Island and had become a fixture in New York’s independent circles by the 2010s. He performed with multiple bands and issued several records under his own name prior to launching the Thin Lear project in 2016 via a self-titled six-song EP. The Thin Lear recordings adopted a more orchestrated and chamber-oriented approach than his preceding solo work. He devoted years to preparing his first full-length album, recruiting players from New York’s jazz and indie scenes to realize the arrangements. After sustained polishing of the tracks to a finished state, the debut was completed in 2019 and issued as Wooden Cave in July 2020 on Egghunt Records.