Toronto Award-Winning Singer-Songwriter Matt Epp Releases “Live Free” Single from 13th Album, Rolling Wave
International touring artist and award-winning singer-songwriter Matt Epp released his 13th album, Rolling Wave, and its new single, “Live Free,” on April 7, 2023.
The Toronto-based troubadour has found himself at the forefront of the Canadian music scene for more than a decade. Epp’s confessional songwriting and intimate performance style have gained him a worldwide following and a 2017 Grand Prize win at the International Songwriting Competition. His songs, which draw on folk, blues, and Americana, have garnered regular rotation on CBC, Sirius XM, and community radio.
“Rolling Wave” marks a transition into what the artist calls a new era. Recorded mostly alone in a converted rural “Art Church” on the shore of Lake Huron, “Rolling Wave” recounts Epp’s spiritual journey amid pandemic-era isolation. Epp channels themes of presence, connection, and nature, embracing both joy and sorrow as equally important elements of the human experience.
“A rolling wave represents to me the cyclical balance of life; the sacred deepening of grief and experience of ecstasy; natural law and consequences; a powerful enveloping embrace and pull into itself,” Epp says. “One can ride the wave if they surrender to it, and be crushed by trying to control it.”
Epp says creating the album was a “playful, free and spiritual process” that helped him lean into life’s ebbs and flows in the face of devastating personal upheaval. The end of his marriage, the death of a friend, and the loss of all of his belongings to a break-in theft “opened the gates of my heart to experience some kind of rebirth,” Epp says.
“I began to learn self-acceptance, self-love, and to know that I too held my own medicine; that I have the honour and responsibility to scatter it around the world,” Epp says. “My takeaway lessons included relinquishing my sense of control, giving thanks for difficult tests, and holding everything I have with open hands.”
Epp says he learned to record himself in the Art Church, affording himself more time to experiment with lush backing vocals and guitar layers than he would have allowed for in a studio.
“The result is a sound more reflective of the purity and magic of the exploratory demo process; usually elusive to the artist trying to create perfection in the studio,” Epp says.
The uplifting single “Live Free” is a testament to following life’s calls to adventure while shaking off the fear of getting hurt in the process. “Picking up speed, rolling down the hill/ Scraping your knee is just a part of the thrill,” Epp sings. “Do you bleed/ Are you taking chances/ Do you have loving arms around you/ Live free, whatever that means.”
He also explores the bliss of living life to the fullest on the jubilant “Made for Love” and its accompanying music video, featuring a playful Epp romping around in ankle-deep snow in his underwear. Epp recalls the lyrics to the song, which opens the album, just “falling onto the page.”
On the psychedelic-inspired “Inside Out Man,” a maple-sweet tune that nods to the late songwriting great John Prine, Epp touches on his struggles with intimacy despite his vulnerability on stage. “The Girl Who Walks the World,” a sweeping ballad recounting a journey through a natural landscape, was “inspired by the spiritual state of humanity and where our world seems to be inevitably headed.” And the Americana jam “Present Moment,” which closes the album, “was channeled during spiritual reflection on death, presence, and interconnectedness.”
“As it was born, I had goosebumps on my arms and I felt a sacred presence in the room with me. In my experience, it was a sure sign that a higher power was gifting me a song that had special work to do,” Epp says. “I truly believe that Rolling Wave marks the transition into a new era for me and my work.”
Epp is on tour to support the Rolling Wave release in Canada and Germany, which launched on April 14 in Peterborough, ON.
Watch the video for “Live Free” below and learn more about Matt Epp via our mini-interview.
Care to introduce yourself?
I’m from Manitoba, and I currently live mobile in a van-home in Ontario, between Toronto, Owen Sound, and in the boreal forest up near Kirkland Lake. I’m an artist, most notably a songwriter and singer. I’m kind of known for being really earnest in my songs and storytelling. I’m a spiritual searcher, always after the truth, and I enjoy exploring the magic and mysteries of life. More recently I’ve been learning to build things, and am moving deeper into bushcraft, and off-grid living. I feel like it’s necessary at this point in my life to be walking in two worlds… the somewhat disconnected world of modern society and the music industry and on the flip side, the world of living with the land, building a home in the wild, being prepared for life to change dramatically when it needs to. I’m a father to a wonderful 8-year-old girl, and we enjoy a beautiful relationship and many adventures.
Tell us about the process of writing “Live Free.”
The origin of “Live Free” was inspired down in Oaxaca, Mexico, with a conversation I had with a new friend there. We talked about how our shared desire for freedom in life and love was actually keeping us from the very experience of love that would make real freedom possible. The invitation in the song is to give up the perceived freedom of being alone, to find freedom in love.
The actual writing of the song happened at my pal Serena Ryder’s place early in 2020… the first springtime of the pandemic. I was trying to make use of the lockdown time, and desiring my freedom more than ever. I wrote it during a weeklong “Song-a-Day challenge” that I was doing alongside my friend Nora Kotkas out in Calgary. Each evening we’d email each other the day’s song. Nora is a very gifted young musician; She sang harmonies on my song “Everything We Need”… and is also opening my Calgary and Lethbridge tour dates (May 25 + 26).
What’s it like being a musician in Toronto, ON?
I haven’t done much playing in Toronto in all the years I’ve been in and out of the city. My daughter was born in Toronto, and at that time, I did more writing and recording than playing. I love so many musicians there, but I find that everyone hustles so much that we end up spending more time with each other when we cross paths elsewhere on the road. I think Toronto is a hard place to afford to live, for anyone. I’m really impressed with many artists that make it work there!
Who was the first Canadian artist to blow you away?
When I was 23, I was still making skateboard movies and working a bit in the film industry out in Winnipeg. Then I had a profound spiritual experience that made me want to start singing. But I didn’t know what to sing. So one day, someone told me about this songwriter that was playing every week in Osborne Village… and I should really go hear him. His name is Dan Frechette. He’s a very prolific writer, earnest, and passionate. That night, I watched him pour out his soul and heart through his Gibson guitar and Hohner harmonicas. I knew right then and there what my new path was; I was going to sing songs that I wrote myself. Almost 20 years later, here I am, doing exactly that. Earnest, like him. Playing the same guitar and harmonicas that he did. Passionate and prolific, like him. And still trusting that the medicine in the music will get to where it needs to go.
You’ve been making music for a while now. What’s one piece of advice you can offer to those starting out?
My best tip for new songwriters is to give yourself a song-a-day challenge every once in a while to keep your craft-muscles strong. It’s also a great way to keep your inner critic at bay, because you don’t have time to give yourself a hard time about if the lyric is amazing or whatever… it makes you just move forward, and go with your gut and first intuitive thoughts as they come up. This also helps because there’s no pressure to make it good enough to share publicly or be too serious about. It’s an exercise in play. And playfulness, you’ll find, often yields better art than overthought serious work does.
Besides writing, I’d say that if you’re in this for the long game because it’s what your heart needs to do, then develop healthy routines for yourself, be careful about any industry contracts or association, cut as many middle-people where you can, and keep your overhead low. Be yourself and make art that YOU like.
Thanks for the questions, and thanks all for reading. Hope to see you out at a show. Please come say hello 🙂 Matt
Upcoming Tour Dates
May 12 – Owen Sound, Ontario – Heartwood (w full band)
May 13 – Toronto, Ontario – Dakota (w full band)
May 22 – Regina, Saskatchewan – House Concert
May 24 – Leduc, Alberta – Maclab Centre (supporting AV & Inner City)
May 25 – Calgary, Alberta – Ironwood Stage
May 26 – Lethbridge, Alberta – Owl Acoustic Lounge
May 27 – Red Deer, Alberta – RDP Arts Centre (w RDSO)
June 1 – Winnipeg, Manitoba