For the last five years, charming Georgia duo Mattiel, made up of vocalist-songwriter Mattiel Brown and guitarist/producer Jonah Swilley, have been offering up hazy Americana-rock. But as the group sit in their respective home comforts, retelling me their respective days over a Zoom call, their infectious charisma is balanced by a sense of introspection as each pour over every answer they give.
“I’m working on the CD artwork today,” says Mattiel. “I feel like it’s a medium that’s slowly coming back, so I wanted to put a lot of time into thinking about how it would look. It’s kind of becoming the new vinyl collection, isn’t it?” She smiles.
“It’s very cool to see,” Jonah nods in agreement, pausing slightly, before delving into the group’s return to the stage. “We did a full on big music festival about a month ago,” he says. “It was amazing. It’s really put us in a place where we don’t take it for granted, though I think that’s the same for everybody now.”
Cemented by buzzing electric riffs and atmospheric vocal drawls, the group’s sound is rooted in the joys of guitar-led rock. But the journey to such a sound has been a long one, with each member starting out in very different places.
“My dad was a minister,” tells Jonah. “So I grew up playing music in church, that’s how I got acquainted with playing drums and eventually guitar. After I left for school, I was playing in a couple different bands growing up, but then decided to drop out of college and move to the city of Atlanta and pursue music full time. I ended up playing drums for a few artists, and that’s how I met Mattiel!” he pulls back with excitement.
“It was when I started playing for Curtis Harding that my musical tastes, in terms of creating and playing live, changed. Before then I had gone through a period of burnout and I think that was when I really got back into music again. I feel very fortunate to be able to be a working musician. It is just the best job in the world.”
Mattiel approaches the question of background noticeably reserved. “Unlike Jonah, I didn’t start playing music until late in my artistic life. I spent all of my teenage years and my college years enjoying and expecting to be more of a visual artist. But I wanted to explore more of what music has to offer, because I was always interested in it but I never felt very confident in it. I didn’t start really until about the time that I met Jonah,” she gives a knowing look.
“I think I’ve become a lot more confident over time, but I have a lot of anxieties surrounding my music. Singing and writing words from your soul is way more vulnerable than making artwork for people. It’s become less scary and Jonah has always been very encouraging,” she explains firing an appreciative look to her bandmate.
Even talking individually, the duo seem to slot together: a reward from years of collaborating as artists. Both hailing from Georgia, the music of the state has been crucial to the group’s outlook as a whole, inadvertently becoming pioneers of the area’s steadily-growing music scene.
“When Mattiel and I first started working together,” Jonah recalls, “there were a lot of shoegaze bands. But lately I’ve been noticing a lot of acts not shying away from experimenting with fusion, you know? We wanted to capture that,” he tells me.
“I think even though our influences span out, across the globe, there’s a lot of talent that exists in Georgia that can be easily overlooked,” Mattiel admits. “We want to embrace where we’re from. The world really hasn’t seen a lot of what Georgia has to offer. So we wanted to make something good that we believe in, and have Georgia’s name on it.”
These creative endeavours accumulated in the group’s eagerly awaited new album, Georgian Gothic. A sonic evolution for the group, the work melds a range of genres within the foundations of the group’s established sound. While ‘Jeff Goldbum’ is a retro tinged, indie hip-swayer, tracks like ‘Blood In The Yolk’ evoke the nostalgic feel of old Southern ballads.
No matter what genres present themselves, the group’s Georgian heritage shines through, appearing in everything from the sonic inspirations to the artwork surrounding it.
“The album cover has Kudzu in it, which is very closely associated with The South,” Mattiel describes. “It’s an invasive plant that just grows all over everything. And it grows like a foot a day. It’s everywhere in Georgia, so it made sense to have it on the cover,” she smiles.
With Georgian culture permeating throughout the album’s roots, the record nevertheless branches out from the group’s previous sonic endeavours. There’s a clear evolution throughout the group’s output to date, as Mattiel explains: “Sonically, you can kind of see the natural progression between our records. We wanted to expand our horizons creatively, but also like not completely go against what we’ve been working on for the past seven years. So I think the record is our favourite part of what we’ve done previously with added elements that reflect where we’re at now.
“It’s a more open minded record, and that translates to how it is sonically. It gives us the ability to be able to span across different genres,” she ponders.
Musical inspirations aside, part of the album’s charm also comes from it’s contemplative subject matter. Throughout, Mattiel’s brooding lyricism intertwines with the various styles and inflections, dwelling on attitudes towards religion, human nature, and the need for belonging.
This running theme of pensiveness grounds the album, and, when combined with the group’s ambitious sonic approach, creates an offering in which creativity and experimentation is key.
“When we were in the middle of the pandemic, we went to this middle-of-nowhere cabin, and we started working. I think we wrote about three or four ideas on the first day, and kind of just kept on that track,” Mattiel explains.
“I think it was great for the both of us to go through that and just be isolated, because it was a type of stimulation, which made us enthusiastic about coming up with ideas. We didn’t even talk to each other very much during that time, a kinda telepathy that friends have with each other just emerged. We knew what each other was thinking. It made everything feel so fluid in that way,” she pauses, before delving deep into the album’s philosophical ponderings.
“I think that the cabin isolation was kind of a way to step away from everyday life and all the distractions of social media, all the noise, to just focus on making art. That type of seclusion has always been really important for me when making art. Whether it’s printmaking or music or whatever else I do, I have to find a place to go to be alone. It’s a way I’m able to do the best work that I can.”
With such a colossal release ahead the future feels closer than ever. As they chat about upcoming plans, a sense of beginning emerges, with the group’s next chapter of their journey edging closer with each passing day.
“I really want to tour in the new year, to see this album on the road. That’s our biggest goal for next year,” Jonah exclaims.
Alongside his enthusiasm, there’s a palpable determination in the duo. Mattiel are a band with roots in The South and eyes to the sky, their creative forces being the driving force for the ongoing journey ahead.
“We want to just keep making music, to carry on and keep being inspired and making whatever we like,” Brown concludes. “That’s the plan!”
Listen to Mattiel’s new album Georgia Gothic on Spotify and Apple Music now.
