Angie Mattson

A Michigan native, Angie Mattson, was raised in the port city of Muskegon. Perhaps she was destined for a life in music when her mother named her after her favorite Rolling Stone's song. It turns out she is an adventurer and free spirit who has no shortage of inspiration; moving to North Carolina with a lover at 18, traveling and living in an old blue school bus with friends selling her art, then moving to Tokyo to work as a model, and in between earning a degree in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries Management. Not to mention she taught herself to play guitar on a small sailboat in the Caribbean where she lived for a year. She brought an old warped classical guitar given to her by a friend. It was among these beautiful and sometimes ghostly green Islands where her songwriting began. When plans of crossing the Pacific were fowled by El Nino Angie moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music with the encouragement of friends and family. Currently Angie lives in the hills of the Highland Park area in Los Angeles writing new music, drinking wine, and plotting new expeditions.

Angie's new album, Skeleton Arm, drives from a thunderous melodic chant to a gritty rockabilly strut. It's cool and sophisticated with a wild and tender heart. Co-produced by Mattson and guitarist Jeff Mendel at Violet Room Studios in Los Angeles, they confidently weave jazz, bluegrass, and tribal elements into a blanket of lyrical and ethereal folk songs. Mattson's delivery is calm and inventive, and her elegant songwriting weaves heartfelt stories with rich cinematic images. Stormy vocals sway from disarmingly intimate to angelic and soaring as she tastefully displays her powerful range. Lush, swampy guitars, haunting background vocals, and smoking hot drums complete this unique and warmly crafted album. "The songs are mostly about relationships past and present, my heart and body seem to control everything I do, and my mind cleans up the mess" Citing influences like Twin Peaks, Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, Tom Petty, Erykah Badu, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, The Latin Playboys and the balmy soul of the south. "These are a handful of the songs I have written in the past few years, and a lot has happened in those years, there is a lot of things I write about that I don't talk about in life, things I am not even aware of sometimes, these songs have a mind of their own, they well up and spill out."

After the release of 2007's Given to Sudden Panic and Noisy Retreat, which was recorded by Nathan Larson (Shudder to Think, A Camp) in Malmo, Sweden, Mattson spent several months touring the US and Canada with bands like Uh Huh Her, Suzanne Vega, Melissa Ferrick, and Justin Currie. Her music has appeared on ABC, FOX, and IFC and the videos for Drive and In Violet received regular airplay on the LOGO Network after she hosted their music video show NewNowNext. Already in 2010 she has had Drive in a Mazda spot and Cold Soul will be the song during the closing credits of the upcoming thriller "And Soon The Darkness". She plans to head back out on the road in 2010. Angie will release her new album Skeleton Arm on her own label Radio Nine Records.