Feb 01, 2023
By Mark Redfern
Photography by Stephan Vanfleteren
The Tallest Man on Earth (aka Swedish musician Kristian Matsson) has announced a new album, Henry St., and shared its first single, “Every Little Heart,” via a music video. Henry St. is due out April 14 via ANTI-. Jeroen Dankers directed the video for “Every Little Heart.” Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as The Tallest Man on Earth’s upcoming tour dates.
Henry St. is Matsson’s first album of original songs in four years, although last September he released the covers album, Too Late For Edelweiss, via ANTI-. His last regular album was 2019’s I Love You, It’s a Fever Dream.
In 2020, Matsson left New York City to return to his farm in Sweden. It was only after he returned to touring in 2021 that the inspiration to write and record new music struck.
“When I’m in motion, I can focus on my instinct, have my daydreams again. When I was finally able to tour again, I started writing like a madman,” Matsson says in a press release.
The album features Ryan Gustafson (guitar, lap steel, ukulele), TJ Maiani (drums), CJ Camerieri of Bon Iver (trumpet , French horn), Phil Cook (piano, organ), Rob Moose of Bon Iver, yMusic (strings), and Adam Schatz (saxophone).
“They opened everything up, and understood what the songs that I’d written needed: sounds that I couldn’t ever have thought of or created myself,” says Matsson of the players. “We recorded so many of the songs live in the studio, playing, having fun and being really open with each other.”
Of “Every Little Heart,” Matsson says: “But of course I still have little demons inside of me. I wrote some key changes in the song that came natural to me, but I worried they might sound unnatural to others. When TJ Maiani heard it, he straightaway went into this drumbeat that shocked me a little at first, but came completely natural to him. It fit the song perfectly.”
Dankers shot the video on 16mm Kodak film and it’s the first part of a trilogy. Dankers says that the video “portrays a conflict you can have with your inner child, which you sometimes still have inside you and you want to let go, but that isn’t always easy.”
Summing up the new album, Matsson says: “Henry St. is the most playful, most me album yet, because it covers so many of the different noises in my head. When you overthink things, you get further away from your original ideas. And God knows I overthink things when I’m by myself.”
Henry St. Tracklist:
1. Bless You
2. Looking for Love
3. Every Little Heart
4. Slowly Rivers Turn
5. Major League
6. Henry Street
7. In Your Garden Still
8. Goodbye (Goodbye Lonesome)
9. Italy
10. New Religion
11. Foothills
The Tallest Man On Earth 2023 Tour Dates:
Wed. March 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery Masonic Lodge
Thu. March 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery Masonic Lodge
Sat. March 25 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom *
Sun. March 26 – Ft. Collins, CO @ Washington’s
Wed. March 29 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Thu. March 30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Sat. April 1 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
Mon. April 3 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Tue. April 4 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Wed. April 12 – Copenhagen, DK @ Amager Bio
Thu. April 13 – Aarhus, DK @ Voxhall
Sun. April 16 – Glasgow, UK @ QMU
Mon. April 17 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
Tue. April 18 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Cathedral
Wed. April 19 – Leeds, UK @ The Leeds Irish Centre
Fri. April 21 – London, UK @ O2 Forum
Sat. April 22 – Bristol, UK @ Trinity – SOLD OUT
Mon. April 24 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. April 25 – Antwerp, BE @ De Roma
Wed. April 26 – Paris, FR @ La Cigale
Thu. April 27 – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks
Sat. April 29 – Milan, IT @ Fabrique
Sun. April 30 – Munich, DE @ Freiheitshalle
Mon. May 1 – Berlin, DE @ Metropol
Tue. May 2 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefahlrlich
Wed. May 3 – Malmo, SE @ Plan B – SOLD OUT
Fri. May 5 – Oslo, NO @ Sentrum Scene
Sat. May 6 – Stockholm, SE @ Cirkus – SOLD OUT
Sun. May 7 – Stockholm, SE @ Cirkus
Mon. May 8 – Goteborg, SE @ Pustervik – SOLD OUT
Tue. May 9 – Goteborg, SE @ Pustervik – SOLD OUT
* = with Elephant Revival