The Tallest Man On Earth

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The Tallest Man on Earth, the project of Sweden’s Kristian Matsson, recently announced his first new album in four years, Henry St., out April 14th on ANTI-. Throughout his career, Matsson’s “secret-weapon voice has remained a potent tool in the emotional arms race of modern music” (MTV). After releasing “Every Little Heart,” “urgent and unsettled, and underpinned by a skittering rhythm” (Guitar World), Matsson now releases the tender and pared back, “Henry St.,” which carries the album’s overarching theme of “how to be a person in this world.” Matsson comments, “As individuals, we’re told that we should strive for success. But when we have it, it doesn’t solve anything. The song is about stepping away and thinking: why am I actually doing this?” While writing the song back in Sweden, he knew it would be the centerpiece of the album. “It’s the low point and the turnaround: the other songs are a reminder that I will always be a stubborn optimist, even at the darkest of times.” He was about to record the track as a solo piece, until Phil Cook came in on his first day in the studio. “I had Phil basically hanging over my shoulders at the piano while we were playing, and then he recorded it. He improvised that beautiful outro. When he did, our jaws dropped––I was in tears.”

The accompanying music video was filmed in Amsterdam and is the second part of a trilogy of videos directed by Jeroen Dankers for the album. Dankers says the video is “inspired by adolescence. Doing stupid things, stuck in a place, being your smallest self and in the end getting to know yourself while coming out of it.”

Following 2015’s Dark Bird Is Home, his “most personal record… surreal and dreamlike” (Pitchfork) and the self-released I Love You, It’s a Fever Dream in 2019, The Tallest Man On Earth’s sixth album, Henry St., “is the most playful, most me album yet, because it covers so many of the different noises in my head.” “Having been away from it taught me that making music and performing is what I’m doing for the rest of my life, and I’m so grateful for it,” says Matsson. “It has given me new confidence and playfulness. This is what I do. It’s unconditional.”

Notably, Henry St. marks the first time Matsson recorded an album in a band setting. Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn produced the album, which includes contributions from 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), all supporting and surrounding Matsson on vocals and guitars.