Haunt

"He's a sweeter version of Richard Buckner and deserves every bit of success." --Jay Sweet, Paste Magazine - Paste Magazine

Western Massachusetts has produced a steady supply of talented musicians, and scene veteran Matthew Hebert has earned a spot at the forefront with the first album from his latest project, Haunt. As Blue as Your Dying Eyes is a collection of elegant, rootsy tunes marked by gritty electric guitar fills and subtle vocal harmonies as Hebert ponders life with a world-weary air that's as much a part of New England as colorful autumn foliage.

He sings in a tousled voice that sounds like it has known the loving touch of whiskey, sighing over the past on "Run Run Run," wondering at his own behavior on "Poisoner" and singing with quiet, earnest devotion on "Love Song," which aired on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. All in all, a collection that will leave you marveling at its finesse with no time to be blue. �Eric R. Danton - Performing Songwriter

From todays Dallas Observer

"New England is not an area best known for country, but Matthew Hebert is certainly a pleasant anomaly. Haunt is the newest project from the ex-frontman of the Ware River Club, and As Blue as Your Dying Eye is as somber a work as the title implies. But some of alt-country's best efforts are laced with the darkness and quiet desperation that inhabited the work of the genre's two figureheads: Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. "Poisoner" and "Dirty Little Heart" are literate and unforgiving odes that play out like Steve Earle fronting Blue Rodeo" - Dallas Observer

8 out of 10
The shivering guitar assault that opens Haunt’s sophomore effort, The Deep North, instantly announces an evolution in the sonic landscape traversed by frontman Matthew Hebert. Taking a step away from the burnished Americana of 2007’s As Blue as Your Dying Eyes, and his previous work both solo and with the late Ware River Club, Hebert and co-producer José Ayerve infuse this new set of songs with a more straight-forward and nervy rock sensibility.
Songs like “The Sea and the Soul� and “Sugar on the Edge� play deftly with dynamics. Yet for all of its forcefulness and punch, The Deep North is as lean, melodic, and considered as anything in Hebert’s catalog. Lean because the production is surprisingly uncluttered for all of its layers, melodic because ballads and rockers alike are driven primarily by Hebert’s distinctive rasp, and considered because “You Are Loved� and “Gone� are as smartly written as they are deeply felt. This is not music by or for the detached. On the standout “I Suppose�, Hebert growls “This is where the drunks go crashing to the ground / And I’ll go with ‘em / This where the hearts go rolling home / And I’ll go with ‘em,� preserving rock’s oft-forgotten sense of romantic abandon.
- Pop Matters

The Deep North, the sophomore effort from Matthew Hebert furthers the confessional and frequently melancholy spirit of his outstanding debut 'As Blue As Your Dying Eyes.' Mixed in this time, though, is a bit more grit as slightly serrated instrumentation gives songs an undercurrent of anger. Deep North further helps define Hebert as among the best when it comes to mixing the elegance of the Jayhawks, with the angst of the Replacements. - Miles of Music - Jeff Weiss

Out of The Comfort Zone - Ken Maiuri
Though many bands are fronted by singer-songwriters, if you describe a solo artist using those hyphenated words, a percentage of people tune out immediately, heads filled with dreary images of earnest guys with acoustic guitars. not their idea of a good musical time.
Matt Hebert is a longtime Valley singer-songwriter, but he takes that generic label and blasts it out of the water with his band Haunt's new album, "The Deep North." Hebert and company celebrate the release of the CD with a show at Pearl Street this Saturday night at 9p.m. The Hummingfield and Spouse will start off the night.
Hebert's no stranger to solo acoustic shows in front of quiet rooms, using his scratchy, lived-in voice to sing gently through sad verses and push punkishly through emotional choruses. but before his days with Haunt and alt-country area favorites Ware River Club, Hebert was a member of the crunching rock band Hoolapopper in the early 90s, and a little of that era's electric thunder and loud beauty makes a welcome return on "The Deep North."
It starts right with the leadoff track, "The Sea And The Soul." Distorted, forcefully strummed chords shimmer and warp like My Bloody Valentine or the early work if Lilys; the way the loud guitars of Hebert, Bob Hennessy and producer Jose Ayerve roar and mix, the result is almost psychedelic and orchestral. "I think (Hebert) wanted to try and make a big sounding record," says Ayerve, "and I was super excited about taking Haunt out of the normal comfort zone and trying to push some envelopes."
Ayerve admits that while some fans who got an early listen to the album-in-progress were really excited about the new zing, others wished for a simpler, acoustic-based - and more typical - sound. But the carefully sculpted finished album has hooked more than it's mystified. "I think we won over some of the previous hesitant listeners," the producer said.
"It's a challenging and rewarding record to listen to, and I'm a firm believer that it should be," says Ayerve, who thanks to his work with Winterpills, Dennis Crommett, Michael Merenda and his own band Spouse, has a respected reputation for creatively mixing together "lo-fi" distorted homemade textures with lush. crystalline sounds.
"Taking an artist like Hebert, with a very polished and clean-sounding back catalog and drastically reframing his sound was a big risk," he says. "This was our goal, and I believe we pulled it off."
"The Deep North" does a great job of letting Hebert's songs stay in the spotlight but supporting them with varied textures, taking advantage of every pop hook or guitar riff. "Sacred Time" has a driving rhythm section, a nervous, gibbering guitar solo with Dinosaur Jr. whammy action, and impassioned backing vocals that make the songs lyrical point ("This is sacred time/that we're livin' on/ so I'll tread on it oh so lightly/now") sound even more urgent.
and fans of Hebert's solo shows will find many of those songs here given new life, like the soothing, rolling rhythm that now propels the hopeful "You Are Loved." - Ken Maiuri

Sometime during this new millennium, quality rock with pop overtones (i.e. catchy songs, lush harmonies, smart lyrics) went soft. Haunt’s overtly uplifting The Deep North changes all that, reminding the masses that it’s okay to turn up the volume and smile without losing your dignity. Now for the surprise, Haunt is helmed by acclaimed singer/songwriter Matt Hebert, who, in another life, was a gentle alternative country artist. Hebert and his mighty mates display guitars and a firm back-beat that evokes favorable comparison to the more melodic of the 90s era alternative rock artists (think the best of Matthew Sweet with Robert Quine, solo Frank Black). Hebert pours out the pathos in “Blood� a mid-tempo rocker which nearly outlasts the singer’s voice. “The Sea and Soul� kicks off with a guitar motif that would scare the bejesus out of Neil Young - then fades into a vocal chorus that would bring tears to Brian Wilson. The girls will swoon to the folksy “So Much Left To Lose� wherein Hebert waxes
romantic and then some. Hebert and Haunt make for the best that rock ‘n’ roll has to offer these days.

--Tom Semioli [December 9, 2008] - Amplifier Magazine

Haunt is the latest project from Matthew Hebert, former frontman of Ware River Club. It's debut, The Deep North (Nine Mile Records), is full of the kind of guitar slashery and atmospherics that should satisfy both fans of Bob Mould and My Bloody Valentine. Hebert's voice can go from a hesitating growl to a full-on yelp in a heartbeat, as if tempered by his native Western Massachusetts landscape but unable to control itself amidst the delicious chaos of the swirling soupy cacophony surrounding it. "How fast we fade" could easily be an alternate titlefor the album as well as it's emotional centerpiece. highly compelling and unbearably gorgeous. - David Mead - American Songwriter

Matthew Hebert's modern take on folk music
Matthew Hebert replied promptly to my email for more mp3's from his debut record so let's support this mp3 savvy artist by buying his debut. Hebert's Sugar On The Edge was released June 7 on SpiritHouse Records. Mathew lives in Northhampton, Ma., one of the folk capitols of the world (Joe Pernice, Lou Barlow, Dar Williams) and home of one of the best clubs in the US in the Iron Horse Music Hall.

His atmospheric and sluggish take on folk is just right. And it suits his music and deep baritone voice. The song "The Energizer Druggies" sums up our whole prosaic loving nation and our need to "take one to feel good and one to just to feel ok". Here's two songs from his debut and two songs that didn't quite make it. Buy it at Miles Of Music here.
- Songs:Illinois music blog

When Matthew Hebert stretches out the word "OK" over and over on "The Energizer Druggies", it becomes apparent this state of OK-ness is synthetic and very temporary, if it exists at all. The dreamscape song, almost surreal in a loping, waltz time, sounds a bit like a Cat Stevens 45 played at 33 1/3. Hebert's affabble, deep -throated croak propels the catchy chorus, resolving with the bleak couplet: "And theres one too many people who wander the day/taking one to feel good and one just to feel OK."
That's a somber way to kick off and album. But Hebert, the singer -songwriter for Ware River Club for the past seven years, shows right out of the gate that this is a darker, quieter foundation than the one on which his former band built it's sturdy Americana foundation.
Most of Hebert's WRC mates show up here, and he also reconsiders two of his old band's songs, "The Deep End" and "Broken Light". Otherwise , though, this is a noticable departure. Hebert blends lots of subtle, mainly acoustic instruments throughout the disc, with guest players helping to sprinkle some color-or at least additional shades of gray- on his ominous canvass of charectors. Hebert's roughly plaintive vocals and strong songwriting anchor the project and keep it cohesive. - Scott Brodeur - No Depression