Matt Lungley is a 22 year-old singer songwriter from Kent. As someone who has sought to follow his own musical path without alienating mainstream audiences, his unusual and melancholic voice leaves people struggling for comparisons, which is reinforced by his intricate and striking use of double-tracked harmonies. While he has a liking for sonorous dropped tunings and wistful chord progressions, he’s no less partial to memorable hooks and catchy riffs. Growing up at home music was always around Matt via his parents’ eclectic vinyl collection. His father especially loved reggae, dub and ska, so it wasn't unusual to hear Lynton Kwesi Johnson’s compositions filling the house. By contrast his mother veered more towards artists such as David Bowie, Marc Bolan and Cat Stevens. However it was the music of Elliott Smith that would most come to inspire Matt to become a singer-songwriter, along with the likes of Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley. Teaching himself guitar at the age of 14, he found himself drawn to the acoustic guitar playing of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. He’s subsequently gone on to collect, rescue, fix and learn how to play a small menagerie of instruments, which he’s used to write an extensive reservoir of songs. Up until now he’s released 21 songs spread over two EP’s and one LP, ‘Emotional Bruising’. It’s not been a straightforward journey though. Things started well as his first EP ‘Blank Canvas’ in 2007 found an international as well as domestic audience. As he released his second EP, ‘Written With Lucy’ in 2010, momentum was building well through recommendations and generous support from a diverse fan base. It was frustratingly at this point that Matt suffered a painful vocal injury that left him struggling even to speak, with doctors doubting whether he’d ever sing again. Unsure as to his future but unwilling to abandon his passion for music, Matt decided to put singing on hold and develop his other attributes, channelling his energies and abilities into working with other artists. Having always had a love for the processes of writing and producing, he also found it easy to adapt to a diverse range of musical styles and approaches. Most notably his loss was his sister Natalie’s gain, as Matt became the creative force spurring her onwards. He began co-writing and working on every aspect of her music, all the while helping and encouraging her to develop her own style. As well as working on original material with her, Matt’s playing and arrangements on a colourful procession of covers started to get noticed as Natalie garnered over 3.5 million Youtube hits and record labels and publishers started to get in touch. Matt plays alongside his sister Natalie in her live Youtube videos, whether it be a guitar, piano or producing mixes for her unique covers, including Deftones’ ‘Be Quiet And Drive’, The Weeknds ‘High For This’ and ‘Bad Blood’ by Bastille. Matt also performs the music for her original compositions when playing gigs. After Natalie was approached by Mike Skinner from The Streets, Matt found himself seriously honing his writing and production skills working alongside some of the industry’s biggest names. These included Mike’s recent collaborator in The D.O.T. Rob Harvey, formerly of The Music, and John Beck, whose writing credits include Corinne Bailey Rae, Delilah, Lianne La Havas, Lisa Mitchell, Newton Faulkner and Paloma Faith. Indeed John recently enlisted Matt to remix a track for an upcoming artist he’s working with. All this time Matt had been nursing his voice slowly back to health, even discovering new capabilities and nuances. As a result in late 2012 Matt felt ready to return to his own music, and is now back with a new album for 2013, ‘The Last Fleck Of Life’. It features 17 remarkable songs, having been whittled down from an initial pool of 50, and Matt has even made his own accompanying videos for some of the songs featured on the new album, including ‘Hope Is Sophie’ and ‘Paying for Presence’. Stylistically Matt has spread his wings further afield, incorporating new ideas and experiences both personally and musically. His lyrical musings can often be very poignant, yet as the title suggests, even in the most desolate situations there can be a grain of hope and a glimmer of beauty. There’s much for the listener to immerse themselves into on this album – with folk-flavoured melodies both sweet and sombre as well as unfettered foot-tappers. It’s the work of a meticulous musical craftsman, yet also radiates with the raw emotions of Matt’s journey after losing, mourning but then finally reuniting with his voice. It’s the album he thought he might never get to make, so is something to be treasured all the more. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.