6161 - Up (Single)
Picture Credit: Paul James
Having built a solid reputation as a drummer over the years, Matt Stockham Brown is set to step into the spotlight with the release of his new project and self-titled debut album ‘6161’ (pronounced ‘Six One Six One’) set for release on 14th March 2025, via Bristolian label Severn Songs (run by Ishmael Ensemble, and home to Waldo’s Gift and Holysseus Fly). A former member of Run Logan Run (with whom he won the prestigious Montreux Festival Award in 2019), Matt has also recorded and performed for an eclectic range of artists, including Massive Attack, Rodriguez, This Is The Kit, Paraorchestra, Gregory Porter, Liz Lawrence, Cloth, Get The Blessing, Marc Ford, Squirrel Flower, Ghostpoet, and Cosmo Sheldrake. His debut LP ‘6161’ is a sonic tapestry woven from grief, transformation, and the reclamation of identity where jazz-infused drum fills dance alongside bold brass lines, illuminating kaleidoscopic, soulful grooves that pulse with raw emotion. Born from a journey filled with challenges, Matt channels his love for brass, reeds, and the interplay of acoustic and electronic sounds: music that inhabits the untamed outskirts of genre.
Second single ‘UP’ offers a moment of reprieve, evoking the spirit of a post-war ballroom with a waltzing rhythm that beckons dance. Dark energy courses throughout, underpinned by heavy, jazz-infused drums and lush, atmospheric synths. On the track Matt says: “I always saw ‘Up’ as a big cinematic journey, It's loosely inspired by the positive energy I feel when I’m travelling North, especially into Scotland.. I have always been moved and attracted to darker sounds/atmospheres and was feeling a lot of negativity amongst the positive at this time in my life. I was real happy I persisted with this track, I think its my favourite of the record.”
The accompanying band consists of Jake McMurchie and Pete Judge of Get The Blessing, Matt’s wife and long-term bandmate Sophie Stockham, Bristol youngster Tom Taylor and Modulus III’s comrade Dan Moore. For this record, Matt teamed up with long-term collaborator and producer Riaan Vosloo, and to ensure a capture of the raw bustling energy of the project. The album was recorded live across one and a half days in J&J studio in Bristol with engineer Jim Barr at the controls engineering. Matt has a severe allergy to squeaky clean Hi-Fi tones and aesthetics, so the coming months were filled with hybrid idiosyncratic production explorations with Vosloo at the helm. The record has been a long time coming, emerging as a bold and authentic voice that reshapes the boundaries of the contemporary Alt-Jazz landscape.