Montreal, QC-based AGATH CHRIST is the alter-ego of singer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and recording engineer, Matthew Hills.
AGATH CHRIST’s music centers around Matthew’s powerful and sensitive voice and complex compositional taste. It’s an ever-continuing experiment in pushing limits and boundaries until they dissolve, or until it all comes crashing down into noise and chaos.
You can check out the new self-produced intricate electronic track, “Beg” below. The single highlights Matthew’s raw, emotional vocals, and leaves the listener wanting more.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hey, I’m AGATH CHRIST. I live in Montreal and make music with my friends.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
I’m an intuitive writer; I have a classical background but, I have bad memories of music school and its rigidity and competition, and I have the most fun just following whatever impulses come to me. I like to switch instruments, genres, moods, and workflows. I guess that’s evident from how eclectic my output ends up being.
How have you been keeping creative during the Pandemic?
I just try to do as much as I can every day. I co-own and operate a recording studio so, on one hand, it’s easy to have the space to work but, on the other, a lot of artists don’t have money right now so it’s been a lean period for a lot of them, and us, sometimes. The biggest challenge is actually the curfew in Quebec which means I often have to leave the studio before I’m ready to do so, or I have to sleep there.
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
I guess if they’ve already heard ‘Beg,’ which is my favourite, because whatever I’m working on right now is my favourite, I’d recommend just starting from the beginning, cuz I’ve only put out 4 so far, starting last September: ‘87 Corolla. It’s kinda neat hearing the progression from there if you have the time and volition I guess.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
There are so many. Helena Deland is fantastic. Caribou. Ian William Craig. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. The Weeknd. Destroyer. I grew up in Kingston, so The Tragically Hip. I don’t know where to stop.