Matthew Sweet Goes Au Naturel

11/04/04 4:00pm

by Shannon Whibbs (CHARTattack)

Over the course of his career, Matthew Sweet has done time with a number of major record labels: Columbia, A&M, Zoo Entertainment and, until recently, Volcano records, an offshoot of Jive.

Not including his involvement with The Thorns, Sweet's last major-label release was his greatest hits compilation, Time Capsule, in 2000. Now Sweet has left the major label machine behind and makes records in his fully loaded home studio on his own terms. At least, he's going to give it his best shot.

The newly released Living Things and the previously Japan-only Kimi Ga Suki are his first attempts at going it alone. Sweet has cut a deal with Redeye (and Outside Music in Canada) to handle the distribution and is currently experiencing the challenges of promotion without the support of a label.

"It's very difficult to sell very many records when you're not spending the hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting it on radio and really getting mainstream coverage on it," Sweet admits. "On the other hand, I don't need to sell that many records when I'm making seven to eight dollars a record to live comfortably. So you know, it's a little scary because I think I'll have to build it a little bit."

Living Things was an accidental record. Sweet came up with the concept (nature, life cycles, creation) and songs quite unexpectedly while on a musical retreat with The Thorns. The album features almost solely acoustic instruments and a psychedelic undercurrent, paired with Sweet's trademark pop artistry. In addition, the disc features the talents of Van Dyke Parks and also veteran session player Greg Leisz and Velvet Crush's Ric Menck, who backed Sweet on his classic album, Girlfriend.

Despite everything going for it, Sweet believes Living Thing is a record that no major label would have been interested in.

"They're thinking so much in terms of mainstream commercial success these days," he says. "And that's so kind of not a place for an artist like me in the current trends of that. It just seems like it would be a wrong way to go about it at this point."

Sweet is excited to experiment with his increased artistic freedom, but he hasn't lost the urge to make solid pop-rock records. A guy has to make a living, after all.

"Living Things was really just a by-product of my life that just happens to be a record. I'm not meaning to disown it in any way because I really like it," he explains. "But I have yet to make a concerted, focused record at home where I know that's what I'm doing that's meant for this country [as opposed to Kimi Ga Suki]. But my next record will be that."

Sweet will be performing at Toronto's Mod Club Theatre on Monday, November 8. The "opening" act (Velvet Crush) will play in the middle of his set and then Sweet will finish off the show.

"If you can let anyone know to come early because there's not really an opener," Sweet chuckles. "We did it in Japan and it was really fun, so we thought we'd take it everywhere else before we're done."