Tallest Man on Earth Plays UCSB

“I spend a lot of my time in Brooklyn and I love going on adventures in a crazy city, but nature is such a big part of me….the birds, the rivers, I always find myself going back to that,” said Kristian Matsson, known better by his stage name the Tallest Man on Earth, said. Indeed, the videos accompanying his new EP, When the Bird Sees the Solid Ground, are flush with stunning imagery of the hills and forests, quaint countryside visuals and sounds of birds chittering away. This latest project is an unorthodox one; rather than release the recording on streaming platforms all at once, the Tallest Man on Earth chose to roll out each track individually with an additional video containing commentary and an acoustic performance of each song. The collection is of rare intimacy and humanity, proving to be some of the Tallest Man on Earth’s unrestrained work.

The Swedish-born the Tallest Man on Earth began his solo career in 2006 after singing lead in the indie band Montezumas. His magisterial style of guitar picking and charming stage presence have solidified him as a key figure in popular indie folk music over four albums and two EPs. I recently spoke to the Tallest Man on Earth over the phone about his latest EP, the process behind it, and the performances to come.

What makes this EP different from your previous albums? I did everything myself. The songs and the videos, it was very DIY. Even [more than] just writing the songs — the controlling of the cameras, the editing, the color grading, placing the microphones. I’ve done photography, but never video. But it was different, I really love feeling like a beginner at things, you can really learn a lot in a short amount of time that way.