Syd Matters is a French band fronted by composer

Jonathan Morali Jonathan Morali (born 22 May 1980) is a French composer, songwriter, singer, founder and frontman of the band Syd Matters. He is also the composer of many films and videogames original scores (e.g., ''Life Is Strange'', '' Life Is Strange 2''). ...

. The other band members are Jean-Yves Lozac'h, Olivier Marguerit, Remi Alexandre and Clement Carle. The name Syd Matters comes from the slight modification of the names of two

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

members:

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Until his departure in 1968, he was Pink Floyd's frontman and primary songwriter, ...

and

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

2001–2005: Jonathan Morali

Syd Matters is also the pseudonym of the band's frontman, Jonathan Morali. Morali was born in Paris on 14 April 1973. He started his performing career playing at small bars until winning a contest by French magazine

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' (), abbreviated as ''Les Inrocks'', is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. As of 2021, it returned to a monthly format. In the beginning, rock music was the magazine's prim ...

, and therefore signing a recording contract with Third Side Records. His first published work is " Fever In Winter, Shiver In June", an EP released in 2002. In 2003, "A Whisper and A Sigh" was released consisting of 11 tracks, marking his first album-length work. After this album was released, Morali constructed a new quintet band under the same name, Syd Matters, marking the band's official creation in April 2005. Early May 2005, Morali then released his second album, the first of which was recorded with his new band, titled "Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles". A mixture of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and melancholic

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

, his music combines slow

melodies A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term ca ...

with acoustic instruments while holding true to its roots in

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

music. Morali was also part of the French rock band The Palmtree Family.

2005–present day

A compilation CD named ''Syd Matters'', was released in America on 16 June 2006. A single disc that contains various songs from his two previous albums, it was released under the label, V2 North America. In January 2008, he released the album "Ghost Days". On 16 March 2011, Syd Matters released their latest album, "Brotherocean". Among his other works are a duet with

Ane Brun Ane Brun (; born Ane Brunvoll on 10 March 1976) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist of Sami people, Sami origin who sings primarily in English. Since 2003, she has released eleven studio albums, six live albums, five compilations, o ...

, "Little Lights" which was released in 2005. In 2015, the band had two of their songs, "To All Of You", and "Obstacles" featured in the popular video game ''

Life Is Strange ''Life Is Strange'' is a series of adventure games published by Square Enix's Square Enix External Studios, External Studios. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the Life Is Strange (video game), eponymous first install ...

''. Jonathan Morali would also compose the original soundtrack, released to critical acclaim.

Media appearances

His songs "To All of You" ("American Girls") and "Hello Sunshine", a

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian C ...

cover, were featured in the television series ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on Fox in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, with a total of four seasons consisting of 92 episodes. The serie ...

'' in season 3's The Party Favor and season 4's The Metamorphosis, respectively. Additionally, "Obstacles" and "To All of You" were featured in

Dontnod Entertainment Don't Nod Entertainment SA (formerly traded as Dontnod Entertainment) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in June 2008, it started development on '' Remember Me'' (2013). Because of its poor return on investm ...

's 2015 video game ''

''. Morali also composed the original score for the game. The soundtrack to ''

'' won numerous awards including: best soundtrack at the 2015 PlayStation Universe awards, best soundtrack at the Game Informer Best of 2015 awards and best soundtrack at the Titanium Awards. Following this, Morali also collaborated with director Rémi Chayé to create the score for the animated film '' Long Way North'' (2015), where he included two tracks by Syd Matters in the soundtrack. In 2020, Syd Matters performed a composition of

The Metamorphosis ''The Metamorphosis'' (), also translated as ''The Transformation'', is a novella by Franz Kafka published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''The Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes to find himself inex ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

for French Radio in which the book was read by actor Micha Lescot with accompanied music.

Reputation

Since Syd Matters’ debut, their experimental genre has been continuously praised by critics. Their second album, "Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles", brought the band mainstream attention with a review in the 32nd issue of ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

''.Syd Matters: Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles. (2005). Music Week. The unique sound they produce has been said to draw inspiration from genres such as

prog rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

dub music Dub is a musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae, p.&nb ...

, and

Traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known ...

, while also resembling that of singer-songwriter artists but at its core is often considered a mix between

and

genres. In their reviews, they have also been compared to other artists such as

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes are an American indie folk band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2006. The band currently consists of Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar), Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backin ...

Fionn Regan Fionn Regan (born 1981) is an Irish folk musician and singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Bray, Regan came to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, '' The End of History'' in 2006. He had been releasing extended plays for si ...

Grandaddy Grandaddy is an American indie rock band from Modesto, California, Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and featured Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Kevin Garcia and Tim Dryden, until Garcia's death in 2017 following a ...

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...

, and

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...

Discography

;Studio albums * '' A Whisper and A Sigh'' (2003) * '' Someday We Will Foresee Obstacles'' (2006) * '' Ghost Days'' (2008) * '' Brotherocean'' (2011) ;Extended plays * '' Fever in Winter, Shiver in June'' (2002) *'' Everything Else'' (2007) ;Compilations *'' Syd Matters'' (2006) Compositions * ''La Question Humaine'' (2007)

References

External links

Jonathan Morali Official website
{{Authority control French rock music groups Because Music artists Musical groups from Paris