Fresh off the back of last year’s twist into electronic music with New Skin, Scott Matthews has recently announced plans for its sister album, New Skin: The Acoustic sessions, an exploration of pieces from New Skin reimagined and stripped back.  Damian Robinson caught up with Scott to find out more about the albums and future Northeast dates.

New Skin was such an interesting album, and New Skin Acoustic sounds also really experimental.  How are you finding these journeys?

Thank you.  New Skin was a diversion for me in a way, working with electronics was something I’d never done before and as an artist I think that’s always important.  I can certainly see growth and development in my earlier albums and moments where I stretched myself, but New Skin was completely new.

And New Skin acoustic is a chance to explore further new group?

I think so, yeah.  What I’m doing with the acoustic album is embracing the challenge of stripping songs right back to their essence.  I’m about halfway through the process and it’s been really interesting for me, in ways I’ve never taken songs to such bareness before.  Ive found that really interesting and also it’s interesting to hear the contrast between the sounds of New Skin and the sounds in the sister record.

Do you see this reaction to previous records becoming a deeper part of your creative process?

Potentially, I think the electronic work and now the work with the acoustic sessions is giving me a new set of tools and skills.  That’s really enriching as a songwriter as it gives me more options and people like Thom Yorke who can work in different spaces and with different sounds are real inspirations for me. 

You’ve just come off a tour with Robert Plant and Suzi Dian, did that give you a chance to road test some of the new material?

Yeah, that was a great tour.  The crowd were really appreciative and it gave me a chance to work through some of the new acoustic pieces.  I also got a chance when we played Middlesbrough to have a cheeky beer in the room I’ll be playing soon, so that was really enjoyable.

And the UK tour, with dates in Newcastle and Middlesbrough, that’ll be you doing some electronic moments from New Skin as well as acoustic pieces from New Skin:acoustic?

Absolutely, I really enjoying playing the North East and the show will be electronic pieces as well as some exclusives of the songs that will end up on acoustic – it’s a great chance to test out the songs and hear feedback on them.

New Skin is out now.  New Skin:The acoustic sessions is out early 2023.  Scott plays Middlesbrough Town Hall on September 20 and Newcastle Cluny on September 21.