Free-range troubadour

Matt Epp speaks his mind and refuses to play safe

Viva la beard! It’s been a hairy year for local singer-songwriter Matt Epp.

Matt Epp could be forgiven for taking some time off.

From B.C. to Newfoundland, to California to Tennessee, to Mexico and a lot of the places in between, the local singer-songwriter played more than 150 shows in support of Orphan Horse, the CD he released in April of last year.

But he’s not taking a break. This Tuesday, Nov. 3, he’s releasing his fourth album in as many years - Safe or Free. It’s a prolific pace, but for Epp (no relation to the writer), it’s all part of the process.

“I still feel like I’m really new at this,” Epp explains over coffee at his favourite Winnipeg hangout, Espresso Junction at The Forks, one sunny Saturday morning in September.

“I’m trying to work out the bugs and get closer to whatever the thing is I have that’s unique. I’m just learning so fast, I need to keep making records.”

Epp, who turns 29 next month, has released all of his albums independently. He recorded Safe or Free in between tours last December. Unlike Orphan Horse, which was a stripped-down affair focusing on his voice and acoustic guitar, Safe or Free is a full-band effort.

To record it, Epp enlisted the help of friends from Winnipeg’s music scene, including members of Twilight Hotel and The Waking Eyes. Eliza Gilkyson, Amelia Curran, Jesse DeNatale and Steve Bell also sing on the disc.

The majority of the album was recorded live off the floor over three days by recording engineer John Paul Peters, who co-produced the disc with Epp.

The result is Epp’s best CD to date. Standout tracks include Working Holiday, a piano-driven rocker, and They Won’t Find the Bodies, an eerie love song about protection that has Epp singing: “And even if they tell you a lie / I might cut their tongues out / And gouge out their eyes.”

Lines like that may not seem out of place in a world where a new Saw movie is released annually, but coming from a Christian who grew up in a denomination that prides itself on pacifism, it may come as a shock.

“I feel completely free to say what I want to say because I feel solid in my faith and I don’t really need to be accepted otherwise,” Epp says. “Making the record was not about being safe. Some people aren’t comfortable with that frank honesty, but really, I think that’s the only thing I can offer.”

Safe or Free marks a number of firsts for Epp: He filmed his first music video (for They Won’t Find the Bodies, which people can view on his official website), hired his first publicist and is planning his first European tour.

“It feels like we had reckless abandon to be creative, and it’s totally the record I wanted to make,” he says of Safe or Free. “I feel like the luckiest guy.”

Published in Volume 64, Number 9 of The Uniter (October 29, 2009)

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