Matthew and the Atlas

Behind Matthew and the Atlas is English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Hegarty, a project that emerged in the UK in the late 2000s in the wake of the British folk revival. Originally conceived as an acoustic setup centred on guitar, banjo and introspective songwriting, Matthew and the Atlas gradually took shape as a band and became part of the London scene, notably around the Notting Hill Arts Club, before joining Communion, the label co-founded by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons. The first EPs, To the North (2009) and Kingdom of Your Own (2010), established a stripped-down folk-rock marked by spare melodies and a deep voice; the sound widened with Other Rivers (2014), Temple (2016) and Morning Dancer (2019), where Matthew and the Atlas incorporated indie-folk and indie-rock textures, broader arrangements and, in places, subtle electronics. Throughout this evolution Matthew and the Atlas also shared stages with Bear’s Den and Mumford & Sons and retained a taste for melodic, contemplative and direct songs at the crossroads of English folk, Americana and atmospheric pop.