Music

sound projects

half a crown

A spellbinding journey through Shakespeare’s sonnets, reimagined in the haunting, twining sonic world of American string music. With Matthew Battles on guitar and voice and Michael James on fiddle and mandolin, the work braids Elizabethan verse with the sounds that flowed from the confluence of peoples moving through the Appalachian hills. Born from a lifetime of reading, writing, and song, the result is music that feels ancient and modern at once. In this intimate, moving performance, sonnets are not just sung but inhabited, unsettled, and set loose to take wing.

We’re booking performances of HALF A CROWN with bookstores, libraries, literary festivals, living rooms, and music venues. Reach out via the contact form or email matthew.battles@gmail.com with interest.

the wave

A series-in-progress of songs about the elements, the senses, and the movement of Love in the living world, in dialogue with source texts including Rilke, Shepherd, Thoreau, and Wikipedia.