MATILDA MANN

Matilda Manns Indie folk tracks are woven with delicate guitar patterns written across a tapestry of places, from her bedroom to the mountains of the Peak District, to the light-filled apartment in Archway. Her new album Roxwell explores new musical territories with sultry pop hooks.

Following a precocious few years in music, it feels fitting now for Mann’s debut album to start at the beginning. Named Roxwell after the cherished street of her childhood home, the album is a tender ode to her formative years. An only child to loving parents, she soaked in the world from their house in West London, watching music documentaries with her father, writing songs in her bedroom and performing to her parents in the kitchen. “I’m very sentimental and wanted to pay tribute to that house, which is the closest thing to me. So much of my history is there”, she notes. A gentle and resonant album, Roxwell exudes the warmth and care of that nurturing environment, propelling Mann into the world with a fundamental desire to connect with people.

Tell Me That I’m Wrong, a folky track woven with delicate guitar patterns, tells the story of two souls tentatively taking the leap into love. As Mann reflects: “Neither of us felt ready for a relationship, but we wanted to try anyway. We basically said to each other: ‘If we do this, I’ll love you for a really long time. Will you give me the green light to love you?’” Then, she navigates the aftermath of an all-consuming break-up on Common Sense. “I’d walk through Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush, and in my mind all I could see was this person everywhere.”

Despite being a songwriter so rooted in emotional investigation, Mann continues: “I actually think about things more logically, trying to map out how a person would probably feel in different situations and why.” Roxwell feels that way, the songs infused with careful empathy and detail, each moment carefully painted in all its intricacy.

Roxwell is a sonic evolution for Mann, each song written across a tapestry of places, from her bedroom to the mountains of the Peak District, to the light-filled apartment in Archway where she and collaborator Jonah Summerfield often worked. Whilst tracks like All That Was Said ground the album in her beloved indie folk, Roxwell also explores new musical territories, like the sultry pop hooks on Meet Cute (co-written with musician Oscar Scheller, whose credits include Arlo Parks, PinkPantheress and Rina Sawayama). “I didn’t put any lines around what sounded like me”, Mann explains.

Final track Girls brings Roxwell to an end with a strawberry sweet portrait of Mann’s two childhood best friends and their memories of growing up together. “We were girls first”, Mann whispers in a gentle refrain, weaving together the album’s threads into a final love letter to her loved ones.

The album ends with a home video clip of baby Matilda cooing: “Goodbye!”. With that, Roxwell sends us off with an echo of innocence, and Mann into the world as a young adult buoyed by the wonder and warmth of her younger self. Wherever she goes and whatever she does, we know it’ll be with love.

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JOY. Present
MATILDA MANN + support
Tuesday 22nd April 2025
Concorde 2, Brighton
£17 adv + fees
19:30 - 23:00
14+ (U16s accompanied)
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