Matt Deighton / The SDE Interview

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Matt Deighton’s latest solo album, Today Become Forever, is No 44 in the SDE Surround Series and is released next week. Limited to just 1,000 units, it’s available on blu-ray audio featuring Dolby Atmos, 5.1, stereo and instrumentals mixes, alongside a previously unreleased bonus track and four videos.

Deighton, who was the frontman and guitarist with ‘90s acid jazz outfit Mother Earth, also played with Paul Weller on 1997’s Heavy Soul tour, and joined Oasis in 2000, when he temporarily replaced Noel Gallagher, who quit the band mid-tour. 

The Observer Music Monthly once said of him: ‘His true spiritual ancestor is Nick Drake’, while the Sunday Times wrote: ‘It is impossible to imagine fans of Nick Drake and John Martyn not falling in love with him.’

Deighton’s life was documented in the Sky Arts film, Overshadowed, and he’s also worked with Chris Difford of Squeeze and English singer-songwriter, Bill Fay (who died in February).

Earlier this year, Deighton released a collaboration album with Dr Robert of The Blow Monkeys – called The Instant Garden, it’s a stripped-back, folk-psych record inspired by Tyrannosaurus Rex, Fred Neil and Tim Hardin.

Today Become Forever, which was originally released in 2023, is Deighton’s seventh solo album. Partly produced by Ken Scott (The Beatles, David Bowie, George Harrison) and Deighton himself, it features anthemic mod rock, gorgeous folk songs, a touch of jazz, soulful brass, cinematic string arrangements and Hammond organ.

SDE talked to Deighton about the Dolby Atmos version of Today Become Forever, writing and recording the original record, and his plans to make a new acoustic solo album on a reel-to-reel tape machine.

SDE: How did the idea of doing an SDE Surround Series Blu-ray Audio edition of Today Become Forever come about?

Matt Deighton: I subscribe to SDE, I saw an unboxing video of The Beatles’ Revolver, I liked Paul Sinclair’s eye for detail on graphic design, and I started buying stuff from the website. I spotted Paul at a Dolby Atmos playback event for Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, and I approached him and told him I liked what he was doing with physical releases in a world of streaming. 

About a month later, my mate, Chris Sheehan [musician and manager], got in touch – he said he’d heard from a friend called Tim Burns, who he had worked with at a studio in Wood Green (North London). Tim had heard Today Become Forever, liked it, and asked if he could do a Dolby Atmos mix of a couple of tracks. But Chris being Chris, said: ‘I dunno – if you’re gonna do it, you need to do the whole album…’ 

So, Tim said, ‘Alright…’ We went from there and we ended up at Tileyard [studios in King’s Cross, London], where we mixed the album for Surround Sound. I got on well with Tim. 

What’s your take on the Dolby Atmos version of the album?

Most of it is mind-blowing! ‘Snow Lit Lovers’ sounds like I’m in a forest… It’s immersive, but it doesn’t detract from the mixes, and it just emphasises how well Callum Marinho [engineer] and Ken Scott had set things up when we originally played and recorded stuff. It doesn’t make it feel exposed or ill-suited for such scrutiny hi-fi-wise.

Do you think hearing the capabilities of Dolby Atmos will affect how you work in the studio in the future?

I’d bear it in mind, because I’ve found it luscious, but it would depend on the music – if it’s just guitar and vocals, that’s a hard ask. The next thing I’m working on probably wouldn’t lend itself to Dolby Atmos. My album, Doubtless Dauntless, would be pretty good for it – ‘Need Never Be’ is cathedral-esque.

There’s a previously unreleased song from the Today Become Forever sessions called ‘Satisfiction’ that’s exclusively available on the SDE Surround Series version of the album. What can you tell us about that? It’s a soulful rock/pop song…

I’d forgotten it existed. I’d made a point of wiping anything I wasn’t happy with, but I forgot about it! I’m glad I didn’t wipe it… It’s got some good bits, but it’s an outtake for a reason… it just didn’t fit on the album. I tried it but it wasn’t welcome. I misheard Joni Mitchell singing what I thought was ‘satisfiction’ on ‘Song For Sharon’ from Hejira, when I was slightly enhanced, and I thought, ‘Oh – satisfiction… I bet no one’s thought of that…’ But they had – there’s many a track called ‘Satisfiction’…

You worked with legendary producer and engineer Ken Scott on Today Become Forever. What did he bring to the sessions?

Sixty-five years of colossal experience of doing beatific stuff! We bonded over mono… I’d read his book… he used to cut acetates at Abbey Road. He cut Pink Floyd’s single, ‘Apples and Oranges’ loud, and I spoke to him about that. 

After he initially vetted me in front of a few engineers who he was showing how things worked, I was thinking, ‘Don’t think about David Bowie or The White Album – I should just go home’, but he was brilliant – he wasn’t standoffish in any way, but he was observing, because he’s done it all… 

Me and the musicians set up in a room and we started playing and recording live, with headphones on, but we couldn’t get the right mix and the blend was weird. 

When Ken went to the cafeteria we decided to play without headphones, so we could hear each other. We then asked him if we could do that, and he said, ‘yeah’ – it was just great. He’s so musical. We worked with him for a week, and we got three songs done: ‘Snow Lit Lovers’, ‘High Time (Figured It Out)’ and ‘When All Heaven Breaks Loose.’ It was an absolute joy to sit with him and quiz him about all the things he’s worked on. 

Today Become Forever has a warm and intimate sound and was largely recorded at the famous Monnow Valley Studio in Monmouthshire, Wales, which was used by Oasis, Black Sabbath and Queen. What was it like being there?

It was beautiful, but it’s a very haunted place – the last time we were there, I just wanted to leave. It’s because of Black Sabbath – they did a Ouija board there and there’s a portal down at the end of the corridor. I had a horrific dream there, when we were recording ‘Ruthless Grin’ and ‘Somewhere To Climb To’ – I dreamt I was being dragged down the corridor to room 3, which was dodgy. When I was left in the studio, I heard a female voice that sounded like Kate Bush, and it said ‘Matt.’ There was also shuffling in the room. It was creepy. I got out of there sharpish.

The engineer on the songs you recorded for Today Become Forever at Monnow Valley was Callum Marinho, who now works with Noel Gallagher…

I’m so pleased for him… He’s good. I was happy with Callum’s monitor mixes – I’m a believer of getting it done on the day, because it’s in the air – that’s the weather you’re at, sonically. It was the same with [engineer] Matt Glasbey, who worked on the track ‘Stringless Heart’ – he mixed David Gilmour’s last album, Luck and Strange. I was lucky enough to work with him and Callum.

‘Stringless Heart’ was originally intended for your 2018 album Doubtless Dauntless – it’s an old song that you wrote in 2002 or 2003…

Yeah – it was a long time ago, to the point where babies were born, grew up, got jobs, and had their own children (laughs).

‘Letting Go’, from Today Become Forever, dates back from your time with The Family Silver, the band you were in with Steve White (The Style Council and Paul Weller) and Damon Minchella (Ocean Colour Scene, Richard Ashcroft). Didn’t that song just tumble out of you when you were in the studio?

Yeah – it’s from when we went to Blueprint, in Salford. It was quite emotional – I was sort of in tears… I don’t want to sound dramatic, but without sounding pretentious, doing music is an emotional thing – you’re tapping into your heartbeat and all the rest of it – good and bad. 

We’d done ‘Overshadowed’ [the Sky Arts documentary] which was cathartic, but I was overwhelmed by it, and I thought it was a bit heavy… I didn’t think I should’ve felt like that, as it was only music… There was a guitar sitting around, I picked it up and ‘Letting Go’ came out verbatim – I played all of it as it was… 

Is it quite rare for a song to fall out of you fully formed?

When I was in my teens [and I read about it happening to people], I thought, ‘That’s a bit flash’, but then when it happened to me, I thought, ‘Oh – it does…’. It’s emotional – I get choked up thinking about it. I don’t know why – that’s probably something for a psychologist (laughs)…

I picked the guitar up yesterday, and a tune popped out… I thought, ‘Have I worked that out before?’ but I hadn’t… Bill Fay used to have it too – he called it ‘song finding.’ It’s in me – it’s like gardening – if you’ve got green fingers and you’re passionate, you’re in tune with it… It comes from within you. It was my tune, and it came from me – not some guardian angel on Saturn… 

Today Become Forever opens with ‘A Song That’s On My Mind’, which is a big, soulful, psych-rock track with brass…

It’s me trying to channel my inner Mother Earth again.  

‘Snow Lit Lovers’ is one of my favourite songs on the album – it’s so cinematic…

It’s one of my favourites too, but I like them all… That song was new territory for me – it’s a deep number and scary, but hopefully not depressing. I love it – I’m so proud of it. I’d had it for a while. It was on a cassette somewhere and was called ‘Baroque Thing.’ It came from a guitar that someone got out of a skip – you could only play the first five frets on it, but it was a beautiful hand-built guitar… It was from a school in London that was being cleared out.

Where did the album title, Today Become Forever, come from?

It’s from a particular book I was reading – I just took the ‘s’ off Becomes (laughs). There’s nothing deep about it – I just thought it was an odd title… I’m a stickler for titles. Me and a mate were talking about titles by The Fall: ‘‘Bingo Master’s Breakout?’ What’s that about? I’m going to have to listen to it…’

When you said you took the ‘s’ off Becomes, it made me think of Oasis, when they called their album Standing On The Shoulder of Giants, rather than the grammatically correct Standing On The Shoulders of Giants… 

Yeah – they took it from the side of a £2 coin when they were pissed in Soho, so what do you expect? (laughs). 

It’s fair to say that when Today Become Forever was released in 2023, it went under the radar. It’s a brilliant album, but not a lot of people got to hear it and it didn’t get much press coverage…

It was only thanks to you, Sean, that it got a review – you were the only person that noticed it existed! It was so unknown that when I was on tour and someone saw a copy of it on the merch stall, they said, ‘What album’s that?’ I said, ‘It’s the new one!’  

The SDE Surround Series version will give it a new lease of life and a second chance…

That’s exactly what I’m thinking. I’m seriously so excited about it, and it’s coming out on my birthday – 5 September. As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the best things that’s happened to me in my solo career – a highlight in my musical existence. If there’s any chance of this album getting heard and noticed, it’s now. I will be doing more [music], but if nothing else happened, I’d be happy. 

On that note, you have been doing new music. You’ve made The Instant Garden album with Dr Robert of The Blow Monkeys, and you’ve been working with folk group Magnet, including founder member Gary Carpenter, on their first album since they did the soundtrack for The Wicker Man in 1973. You’re crowdfunding the Magnet album, aren’t you? How’s that going?]

As far as mixing and manufacturing it, it’s a tall order – it’s such a large amount of money… I’d rather give the record to a label to do it.  It’s too easy to say it’s jinxed, but there’s something about doing something with The Wicker Man that keeps some people at arm’s length… It’s weird and so personal for some people. I get the feeling that the record is destined not to be heard in my lifetime, but hopefully there will be a way. 

On a positive note, it has been recorded for Dolby Atmos purposes. (laughs). Every song on it is a story or a folklore myth from around the British Isles. It will happen… it’s just that we can’t predict when – the record will tell us when it’s going to do its thing somehow.

Are you going to make another solo album?

I’m going to do an album that I will probably record on reel-to-reel – I got given a TEAC 4-track recorder that was going to end up in a skip.

It will basically be me and an acoustic guitar. For the past 20 years, I’ve been asked why I don’t do a record with an acoustic guitar and no one else. Well, I’ve been too scared to do it, because of the opportunity to put a Hammond on it… 

Recently I’ve been listening to June Tabor, and Shirley Collins and Anne Briggs and it’s unaccompanied, so I’ve been thinking, ‘Matt – why are you making albums that are loaded because this is what I like?’ It’s been in plain sight, and I hadn’t even noticed. The album I like most by Nick Drake is Pink Moon, and the June Tabor stuff I’ve been listening to was recorded in a stone cottage with one mic. 

My son has turned me on to Jessica Pratt, but my favourite track by her wasn’t recorded in a flash studio – it was done on an iPhone, you can hear the traffic in the background, and it clicks off… I love it. So, I’m just going to record at home – I’ve got some tunes that turned up in my head. From memory, it’s stuff I did 15 years ago… I picked the guitar up and I played one of them without thinking. I love it when that happens. 

Thanks to Matt Deighton who was talking to Sean Hannam for SDE. An edited version of this interview appears in the booklet of the Today Become Forever SDE blu-ray, which is out next week. The last copies of the blu-rays are still available and new to the SDE shop is the album on vinyl (which was pressed at Optimal) signed by Matt (limited to 40 copies!)

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