By Eric Andersen | May 14, 2010 7:30 a.m.
Just two albums into his career and Kristian Matsson (a.k.a., the Tallest Man on Earth) is being praised as an iconic folksinger/songwriter by critics and casual listeners alike.
Just two albums into his career and Kristian Matsson (a.k.a., the Tallest Man on Earth) is being praised as an iconic folksinger/songwriter by critics and casual listeners alike.
All of this attention could easily go to a musician’s head, but that’s certainly not the case for Matsson. In fact, the 27-year-old guitarist/vocalist seems most content discussing the small village “of about 30 people” in Dalarna, Sweden, where he resides when not touring.
“I’m not really seen in Sweden … I haven’t played there a lot in the last couple years, so it’s kind of quiet,” he said. “It’s kind of fun to live on the countryside … because when I’m in the local newspaper, when I go to the store they treat me as famous person, but if I haven’t been in the local paper, I can just be a normal dude.”
The Tallest Man on Earth will perform at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St., at 8 p.m. May 21 in support of his latest release, The Wild Hunt. Folk musician Nathaniel Rateliff, of the Wheel and Born in the Flood, will open the show. Admission is $10 in advance, $12 at the door.
Matsson first appeared in Iowa City last spring in a crowded show at Public Space One, 129 E. Washington St., as part of the annual Mission Creek Festival. The musician was touring in support of his début full-length album, Shallow Grave. KRUI music director Drew Ingersoll, who played guitar with opener Caleb Engstrom, was blown away by Matsson’s musicianship.
“I like how basic, yet complex [the music] is,” Ingersoll said. “Really, it’s just a man and a guitar, but there’s something so unique about both his guitar playing and his voice, which are commanding.”
While Matsson, whose first language is Swedish, is fairly short (and soft-spoken) in person, onstage he transforms into a completely different being. He will move around the stage with his acoustic guitar in hand and gaze into audience members’ eyes, sometimes to the point of its being uncomfortable.
“If [people] haven’t been to a show, they shouldn’t be scared if it … I guess I walk around a lot onstage, and I kind of look at people a lot, and I don’t mean to come out like an asshole … it’s kind of how I have to do it onstage because there’s a lot of adrenaline and stuff,” he said. “I hope I [come across] as a nice guy and not [as] crazy. I’m learning in the last couple of months that I can actually take it easy sometimes and sit down and play a soft song.”
All of this movement onstage may be a result of the way Matsson sees the music he writes, which he views as something that is almost alive and always changing. He rarely talks about the direct meaning of his lyrics, although he admits that they are often very personal.
“You do a lot of psychology on yourself when you’re on tour and in the van all day already, so we maybe shouldn’t get into that because it will be a long, long, interview,” Matsson said, joking.
When he is not writing music or touring, he enjoys going home to the village he recently moved to in Sweden to relax and spend some time cooking, playing soccer or tending to his pony, named Golden Sky. He has a tattoo of the pony on his arm, and he said he misses it while away.
“I really like it [in the United States] a lot, but I like to go home, also,” he said. “I consider myself lucky to get to see the whole country and meet a lot of great people.”
Copyright: THE DAILY IOWAN 2010
Copyright: THE DAILY IOWAN 2010
