Matt Champion Instagram – 🌱 Matt Champion is not always what he seems… so he’s understanding of your pre-conceived notions. At first glance, you’ll recognise the 29-year-old as a beloved member of the now-defunct musical collective Brockhampton (he reminisces on that coming-of-age experience so fondly his eyes light up), but upon closer inspection and further discovery, you’ll find a wildly imaginative brain that has not only penned one of this year’s best debut albums, but also birthed an extraordinarily curious and complex science-fiction world.
That wise green ogre, Shrek, once said something about onions being multi-layered, and the same is true of Champion. His debut solo album ‘Mika’s Laundry’ delivers traditional moments that are typical of Champion’s back-catalogue (‘Gbiv’ recalls his historic bravado), but where he truly shines is when he’s painting a perspective on the atmospheric ‘Code Red’, or summoning a zestful sparkle for playful numbers like ‘Steel’ and ‘Slug’. Lead single ‘Aphid’ (featuring Dijon) perfectly bridges Champion’s past and present, and the poignant ‘Dogfish’ is also a highlight. Steeped in flavourful nuance and snapshots of humanity, this is an album sure to age well.
Then there’s what Champion refers to as “The Writings” – a dystopian adventure that centres around a characterised version of himself and a female protagonist named Sylla, that’s set in a different part of his imagined world to the music videos that accompany the album. In 2020, Champion became a regular at the Altadena public library in Los Angeles, diligently pursuing his imagination, and it turns out that Champion is the kind of transportive storyteller who writes like he dreams – breathing life into an unchartered wilderness that is loosely based on our Earth, but mostly of his own design, featuring everything from bounty hunters to a futuristic drug called Pudoclizine.
𝕆𝕦𝕣 𝕟𝕖𝕨 @himattchampion 𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕟𝕠𝕨 – 𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕚𝕟 𝕓𝕚𝕠 𝕥𝕠 𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣 / 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕗𝕦𝕝𝕝 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕨𝕖𝕓𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕖 🐌
interview: shahlin graves
design: @lola.jacob
photography: @ashlan
styling grooming: @taviabonetti
BTS video: @thomston
🍃 | Posted on 12/Jul/2024 04:55:42
