“Brain Storm” comes to Hamilton.
By Bell Tollemache
Bryony Matthews Photo by Marc Wilson
Inspired by her experience of a traumatic brain injury, Christchurch based singer-songwriter Bryony Matthews “Brain Storm” live show is coming to Hamilton’s Meteor Theatre on October 15.
The show is described as an immersive live music and storytelling experience exploring the realities of traumatic brain injury and the long road to recovery.
It is based on a 6 song concept album, where Matthews tackles the difficult subject of recovery after her near death experience following a traumatic brain injury.
“I tend to write things down as a way of getting through things’’, she said
Co-produced by Matthews and Steven Marr, Matthews is excited to bring these songs to listeners as she’s proud of this album.
During her recovery. Matthews said it was really hard doing anything that involved over-sensory activities. She said she spent a lot of time being still, but she found that she could write.
“These song’s specifically are very raw,” says Matthews.
On this album she’s moved away from her older style of writing and has incorporated electronic elements, with different layers and synth sounds, as well as her usual use of electric guitar and vocals.
Matthews wanted to not just express her own experience but she wanted to write BrainStorm in the hope that others who had been through a similar experience could listen and say, “She understands”.
While all 6 songs hold meaning to her, Matthews said the song that makes her emotional is a song written for her daughter, called Trauma Waves.
Matthews started her song writing journey at a very young age. “I think the first song I ever tried writing was probably when I was 8”.
When she was 10, she made a friend who was “an amazing musician” and “we wrote funny little pop songs together”. Matthews says the pair are still friends and she still has those songs they wrote. At age 14, Matthews taught herself guitar and by 15 she was already writing solo songs.
Matthews hope’s this album and the performances can help others on their recovery process.
The tickets for Matthew’s upcoming show can be found HERE
