Matthew Hiram embraces nature and sound. His music is ambient plus. It incorporates the sound of nature but builds with sonic exploration you feel like might happen when you’re walking in the woods. It’s restful and refreshing. His new album Green Green Earth feels like a love letter to Mother Nature.
Please tell us about you and your music.
My name is Matthew Hiram, and I’m an artist and musician working in South Minneapolis. For me, it’s often about more than just the music, it’s about the greater intention behind it and the mood you want to create in a space, rather than focusing strictly on scale or form.
I draw so much inspiration and peace from nature and the natural world. A lot of my work is shaped by the cycles, colors, and patterns I see in nature. Through my music, I try to bring a sense of comfort and connection. Sound really is universal.
How do you create your music? It sounds like a blend of sound from nature, more traditional instruments and vocals. When you create a song what happens first, the nature sound, the instruments, a feeling you want to capture?
Every composition starts its own way. Sometimes it’s a field recording that sets a mood, and gets me inspired, other times it’s a broader concept I’m hoping to illustrate and capture somehow. Often, it’s the instrument that leads the way. For example, my go-to flute these days tends to inspire specific phrases, so I’ll approach each piece differently depending on what each instrument brings to the table.
I draw a lot of inspiration from specific outdoor spaces, those places that just feel so good to be in. I like the idea of carrying some of these spaces with me into the work. I think of it as acts of Sonic Conservation, preserving the sounds of these places in a way that feels connected to the environment, and incorporated into my creative process.
My approach is to just keep it natural. It’s about expressing a feeling, putting intention behind it, turning everything else off, and letting intuition guide the process. The human voice in many ways, feels the most natural, and for me, it’s probably my most expressive place musically. I have childhood training and background in voice and performance, so it’s comfortable, and something I can always turn to, and for me feels like the purest form of expression.
I walk in the woods (Wita Tanka down by Fort Snelling) often. Often the sounds are as interesting, if not more so, than the sights. I love the idea of the Canopy Song because I’ve often wondered what the woods sound like from the bird’s eye view. What inspired the song?
I love being in the woods too, Wita Tanka is such a beautiful spot! It’s amazing how the trees create their own sense of space. I love the way the light filters through the canopy, and how everything feels so alive and connected. It’s always inspiring, and so difficult to describe or capture. The sounds of the forest are especially rich and fascinating. I’m always excited to walk through the woods quietly and listen to everything around me. It’s the best!
I’m especially interested in how nature affects us on a deeper level. I’ve been exploring how these sounds affect us, tapping into the most ancient part of our brains and triggering physical effects to calm our bodies. It’s fascinating! It connects to the concept of forest bathing, and soqking up all those chemicals and oxygen that the forest is releasing, and experiencing nature as a path to wellness. Science shows there are direct health benefits of listening to natural sounds like birdsong or ocean waves, it’s pretty cool.
For “Canopy Song”, I wanted to try to capture the feeling of being up in there in the trees. The field recordings are part of that, and trying to voice the synthesizer to mimic the birdcall. For this track, I also use a process called data-sonification. You can source electronic pulse information from a living plant, and send it to a synthesizer for live manipulation, which brings another whole layer of organic communication. I see this practice of “botanical music” as another way to connect to the planet, using the frequencies of living plants to make music with you.
Can you talk about what it means to be a Minnesota Water Steward and how that informs your music?
Water is everything. The Art for Water initiative, run by the Freshwater Society, with Hennepin County Environment and Energy, is an incredible program designed to support artists who address environmental and climate issues through their work. In the summer of 2022, I received an artist grant and became a certified MN Water Steward after completing their training. My capstone project culminated in Immersion, a site-specific solo composition performed live at Wood Lake. The piece uses textures of the lake and the surrounding environment to help create the piece.
This experience had a lasting impact on me. Going through the Water Steward process strengthened my commitment to incorporating environmental themes into my music, and reinforced my belief in art as a powerful tool for connection and change. I see it as my responsibility to help inspire and foster conversations around these critical issues in protection of our planet.
The song “Sacre” on Green Green Earth is a recent example of how water remains present in my work.
Listen here: https://matthewhiram.bandcamp.com/track/sacre
This track features field recordings of a daytime thunderstorm, captured last summer in Bancroft Gardens. Water is life after all, it’s really important.
Where or how can people see you perform?
You do such amazing site-specific shows. It would be amazing to be there live but it can be just as nourishing on video.
Thanks for the kind words! I love playing music outdoors, it’s such a special experience, but outdoor performances in Minnesota are definitely more of a seasonal thing, haha. When I’m not outside, I play at some great, intimate venues around the Twin Cities. MirrorLab for example, always has beautifully curated, thoughtful events. I especially enjoy spaces that foster deep, immersive listening.
For those who can’t make it to a live show, I have a growing YouTube channel, @Hiram_music, where you can watch a several videos from live events. I have a playlist there featuring some recent performances, including pieces from my duo project Visible Light, with my partner Amy. Together we play a meditative blend of ambient chamber music, with compositions for cello, flute, and synthesizer, inspired by seasonal shifts.
I have an official music video for the track “Heartwood”, which you can see here:
and I’m also planning a special live event to celebrate Green Green Earth! Subscribers to my newsletter, Flow & Form, will get early access to details. It would be wonderful to connect with everyone there
Mostly Minnesota 