MATTHEW MCDAID
CATALONIA
Matthew McDaid is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Whitehead, Northern Ireland. In 2005 his family emigrated to the rural Catalan village of Rupit in the Barcelona region. McDaid has gradually been building an increasingly important recognition within the Spanish Folk scene, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by those responsible at Great Canyon Records, the record label headed by the international singer-songwriter Joana Serrat -whose albums are released by Loose, the Americana record label based in London-.
McDaid debuted in 2015 with the EP, Crowded by Silence, which included five songs and placed him at the center of attention of the main Spanish media and also appearing on BBC Radio Ulster on the Lynette Fay and John Toal radio shows. This year, Matthew featured a duo with Glen Hansard at La Cigale, Paris.
Matthew McDaid released his debut LP Off The Beaten Track on September 2017 via Great Canyon Records, an album that has already won the unanimous praise from the entire Spanish press. Off The Beaten Track was chosen as NÂș 6 in Spanish magazine Mondo Sonoro’s list of Best Folk / Americana Albums of the Year and has been aired at The International Americana Music Show based in New York (USA) as one of the Highlights of 2017.
Accompanied by a full band of top musicians and including the cosmic keys of none other than Glen Hansard’s pianist Romy, Matthew states that “Off The Beaten Track is a rocky road filled with ups and downs and a constant change in scenery that never bores”. Matthew McDaid supported Joana Serrat on her UK tour during April 2018 and he brought his music to stages and shared pure emotions, some with an intimate subtlety, others with an explosive force, creating precious, universal and moving evenings. He also played at Focus Wales in Wrexham in May 2019.
Matthew is now back with a bunch of new songs that have been produced and mixed by John Morgan Askew (Laura Gibson, The Delines, Richmond Fontaine, Alela Diane, House Of Wolves, Neko Case) and features the guest musicians Cory Gray (The Delines, The Decemberists, The Dandy Warhols, Heather Woods Broderick), Ji Tanzer (Loch Lomond, Blue Cranes) and Joana Serrat.