Eric Matthews (music personality)

Eric Matthews
Matthews at his home in 2012
Born	(1969-01-12) January 12, 1969 (age 48) Compton, California, United States
Occupation	composer, musician, recording artist, record producer

Eric Matthews (born January 12, 1969, in Compton, California) is an American composer, musician, recording artist, and record producer.

Eric Matthews began his serious recording career as one half of the band Cardinal. Cardinal was formed with Australian singer-songwriter Richard Davies in 1992 while both lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Cardinal introduced Matthews as a multi-instrumentalist and arranger while Davies contributed most of the songwriting. Cardinal, while not a huge commercial success, made a big splash among sophisticated music fans in most of the West's big cities and with its 1994 self-titled debut cemented itself as one of the pivotal bands of the 1990s. In 1993, Matthews collaborated with Sebadoh's Lou Barlow and Bob Fay as Belt Buckle, releasing an EP on Sonic Bubblegum Records.

In 1995, Matthews released his debut solo record on Sub Pop Records in 1995. It's Heavy In Here, described as "a darkly luxuriant sequence of exquisitely arranged and executed orchestral pop", featured the radio hit "Fanfare" and went on to be a top seller for Sub Pop and received positive reviews while also appearing on many best album lists that year. In 1997, the follow-up album The Lateness of the Hour was released on Sub Pop. It did not sell as well as It's Heavy In Here, but included orchestral instruments within its rock stylings.

Sub Pop and Matthews terminated their relationship in 1999, and he began working as a sideman for such groups as Tahiti 80, The Dandy Warhols, Ivy, Man of the Year, Elliott Smith, Paula Kelley, Pugwash, Volovan, and Bug 2000.