SO**P (Songs Without You)

Throughout the expanse of his musical odyssey Bay City based songwriter, instrumentalist, and vocalist Matt de Heus has assembled a divergent collection of original compositions that purposefully refuse to be easily classified by genre, and this latest 9-song collection titled simply  SO**P (Soup Without You) cleverly continues this experimental musical journey by serving up one of his most cohesive and satisfying releases to date.

Consisting of eight songs with an additional hidden track, this time around Matt turns his musical mojo into creating original songs inspired by the funky, bass-driven, up-tempo, horn & brass colored sound inspired by such mid-70’s bands such as The Atlanta Rhythm Section, The GAP Band, Tower of Power, and The Average White Band in a driving Disco Era collage of material that is mixed and mastered to perfection by producer Andy Reed, who also played and created all the horn and brass arrangements coloring each of these tracks.

With infectious melody lines and booty-shaking arrangements, especially on the opening track WOW (In A Good Way) and Groove, what disarms most people upon first hearing this collection is the unique bass & baritone timbre of Matt’s voice, which has drawn comparisons to such iconic figures as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Charlie Rich.

Matt’s ability to create original material in genres ranging from Jazz to Country to Funk, Salsa, and Hard Rock is no mistake, given his commitment to create songs that are both as purposeful as they are personal in terms of setting a lyrical and narrative tone that pull the listener into a semi-autobiographical mosaic that threads lyrical insight together with tightly crafted musicianship.

A guitar technician at Bay City’s  Herter Music, previously Matt has released three albums containing both originals & cover material: Town & Country, Silk Purses, and Mercy Me, which were also all recorded at Reed Recording Company; and two years ago Matt’s hard work paid off in spades with the general public when he was honored with four trophies at the 35^th Annual REVIEW Music Awards for Best Country Songwriter, Best Music Video, Best Single Release, and Best Country Video for his haunting song Gone, which he collaborated with videographer Jason Baker upon.

When asked about the genesis of this new release, as well as  the back-up band assembled called The Juice that he put together to deliver the sound, Matt says his goal was to immerse himself with the sounds of bands and artists that inspired him to pursue music in the first place. 

“On the previous albums my goal was to make Jazz, Blues, and R&B oriented records that sounded like my parent’s collection; but on this one I wanted it to sound like the stuff I listened to as a teenager. If you hear elements of the GAP Band, P-Funk, or the Philadelphia Sound in any of these tracks, that’s what I was trying to go for, which is actually kind of funny when you think of me and Andy Reed trying to make Funk,” he smiles.

“Basically, all the instrumentation was done by me and Andy Reed, although I also brought in Helen O’Keefe to add some vocal coloration, along with some guest guitarists that included Rick Gellise on So In To You, Will Hystad on Just Write the Book, Darrian Loehne and Brian Coonan on SO*P, along with Andy on Fall Into You, who created an absolutely brilliant lead guitar solo.”

Matt says his songwriting and album projects generally come in two year increments, with songs from future projects generally beginning right around the time his current project is released. “Most of these album projects are funny in the sense that when I wrap up one I’m already well on my way to the next one,” he reflects. “I usually go 18 months to two years between song cycles, but as an example, with Songs Without You (SO*P just being released I already have three songs composed and recorded and ready to go for the next project.”

Given the strong horn arrangements and melodic drive framing much of the material on SO#P, how did Matt put the songs and rhythmic patterns together? “There’s a variety of ways I tackle that,” he reflects. “Usually I start with a vocal melody and might hear a bass or harmony part in my head, but usually I write by singing out loud and thinking about it a little while before going to find it on an instrument.”

“When it comes time to record or develop orchestrations, that works in a combination of ways. Sometimes I’ll go into the studio with basic chords and an acoustic part and vocal melody, and sometimes just with the bass riff. A couple of the songs I went to Andy with demos already recorded by myself in my home studio, and sometimes I’ll take a song in with a demo that I tell Andy we need to forget and come up with something completely different.”

“Usually I’ll try and find three things to triangulate between Andy and I and whatever guest artist I bring into the studio,” continues Matt. “But for example, on Fall Into You, which is the hardest rocker on the new album, that whole middle section was written in the studio and Andy played lead guitar and knocked that guitar solo right out of the ballpark.  He got the feeling of the song perfect and dug that solo right out of the dirt. It was amazing to watch him compose it and play it right on the spot.”

When asked what he has in store for his next musical project, Matt says he’s turning his ear towards working on material with another different sound to it. “I’m currently working on a couple of covers with some of the member of the Prospect Brass Band to put horns on a couple new arrangements, and I’ve been listening to different types of music and hoping to come up with something as coherent as this latest release, which I personally feel is going to be hard to top.”

One thing is for certain: with this latest release Matt deHeus & the Juice have created a party album guaranteed to grease your gears and get your motor running, replete with a firmly precise yet easily flowing rhythmic foundation laying a bedrock for the numerous brassy exclamation points that color a majority of these tracks, while leaving you somewhat awestruck at how well Matt has managed to boldly maneuver the tonal range of his voice to melt like Barry White into the texture of each track.

Available on the all the streaming sites, you can purchase SO*P (Songs Without You) in album format or download by visiting this link on Bandcamp: https://matthewdeheus.bandcamp.com/album/so-p