matthew perryman jones

“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” --Vincent Van Gogh

To surrender oneself to their art can sometimes be a refining process. For singer/songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones, it has meant letting go of old demons and embracing who he is, idiosyncrasies and all.

Jones’s love of music began with a collection of vinyl records in the late 80s. Upon moving to Nashville a decade later, he set out to pursue his own career in songwriting. He recorded his first full-length project, Nowhere Else But Here, in 2001 on the cusp of a difficult period in his life; an EP titled For the Road followed in 2004. Though he gained critical success and maintained a busy schedule touring clubs and coffeehouses, Jones eventually became half-hearted about his material and decided to take a break from music to get married, settle down, and reflect.

It’s not so surprising that Jones is an artist who requires periods of introspection; his persona spills with paradoxes. He admits to being “hyper-intuitive which can often lead to hyper-insecurity” and feels uncomfortable if he looks too nice. “I am self-deprecating and egotistical, scatterbrained and focused,” explains Jones. But that just makes him all the more intriguing.

For the artist’s new album, Throwing Punches In the Dark---a comeback of sorts---Jones tacked his self-consciousness to the wall and jumped headlong into his new songs with guidance from producer Neilson Hubbard. Though he entered the studio with some half-finished lyrics, Jones found the freedom to let his stream of thought flow. “Neilson was great about reminding me that I don’t have to write a novel into a song, “he says. “It challenged my tendency to over-think a song into the garbage can.

The result is a collection of high-momentum melodic rock tunes with Jones’s smooth vocal edge, along with bittersweet ballads, and powerful odes to his ailing father. While Jones is known for being a story-songwriter, on Throwing Punches he pulls out all the stops and delivers a well-rounded, full-band album. Most songs bend the spotlight toward his penetrating voice and ethereal guitar sounds, but echoes of glockenspiel, omnichord, and strings are tossed in for texture.

“I approached [this album] like hopping in a car and seeing what places I would find, without needing to know where I was going,” says Jones. “I think you find out more about what you’re made of when you put yourself in unpredictable circumstances.”

There’s a lot that’s unpredictable about Throwing Punches. Because Jones admits to having a bend toward melancholy and bouts of unexplainable sadness, themes like mystery and longing are woven throughout the album. But there’s a lively backdrop of sounds and a hooky element as well.

I thought about calling this record “Vincent Blue,” Jones explains. “The night skies in Van Gogh’s paintings all have that same dark blue that swirls with a touch of madness, but that madness, to me, feels more like a fierce fight for life, with all the tension that comes with it. It’s a fight to keep on believing, even when mystery keeps the clear answers veiled. It’s a good fight…a positive fight, but a fight none the less.”

In many ways, Throwing punches represents a spiritual, relational, and creative journey Jones has been on since his twenties. Now thirty-two, he has come to accept his identity as an artist, a fortunate thing for those who have been awaiting his return to music.

“There have been seasons in my life where I have tried to adjust who I am to fit into this foggy idea of what normal is, and it always ends up feeling like shoes that are too small,” he reflects. “I went to college, worked several jobs--from a commercial plumber to a white-shirt salesman--trying to find my niche. I exhausted myself trying to be a ‘regular guy’ and it just didn’t work. So I opted for a life of writing and performing music, living on the road, being homeless from time to time, and not having a regular paycheck. This felt like home to me.”

Home these days means being in Nashville with his wife Meghan, and following a renewed passion for performing. But Jones’s colorful imagination and vagabond spirit still live on within his songs.

“Through the years I have learned, and am still learning, to be comfortable in my own skin,” he observes. “I think I have come into what my design is, little by little, and I want to live there and flourish in it, without apologies. What I like about being an artist is just being myself and feeling that I’m contributing a little bit to the bigger picture.”

by Kierstin Berry (Eb+Flo Music)