Eric Matthews

Do it yourself. It’s a credo Eric Matthews now lives by—whether playing every note on his latest, Foundation Sounds, or renovating the old Oregon church he and his wife call home. “I’m a creative person,” Matthews notes. “I have sort of a never-ending burst of creative energy, and it needs to be fulfilled somehow.”

After turns in the ’90s semi-spotlight—in short-lived band Cardinal and a with pair of well-received chamber-pop albums (It’s Heavy In Here and The Lateness Of The Hour) on Sub Pop—classically trained handyman Matthews has since hammered out a life working on others’ music (that’s his trumpet on records by Ivy, Tahiti 80 and the Dandy Warhols) and making his music on his own terms.

Not that he doesn’t miss former collaborators like Jason Falkner, now playing guitar with Paul McCartney. “I actually made myself a bracelet, just as a joke,” Matthews reveals. “‘What would Jason do?’”

One thing Matthews has in common with both McCartney and Falkner is an ability to be utterly self-reliant in the studio. Those kinds of albums, Matthews says, “for me, mean more. Not because [the artist] played everything, but there’s a mysterious, sort of invisible element that occurs when one guy who came up with all the parts is actually playing all the parts.”

The result, on Foundation Sounds, is a basic but beautiful statement—carried out with rock instrumentation, augmented by touches of brass, woodwind and harpsichord and accompanied by Matthews’ breathy, oft-multi-tracked voice. And not only did the multitalented Matthews play and sing every note, but he had a hand in building the home studio where it was recorded, as well.

“I’ll probably be able to build my own house in 10 years,” the well-rounded musician says. “I’ll probably learn how to do everything. We’ll see.”