Mathias Kom Introduces… Nev Clay

Mathias Kom

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The Burning Hell is the ongoing musical project of songwriter Mathias Kom and multi-instrumentalist Ariel Sharratt, often including additional comrades and collaborators. Their densely populated genre-shifting songs are packed with an abundance of literary, historical, and pop-cultural forebears, heroes and villains, subjects and objects, stories and hooks. They move with heavy rhyme and a light step, incorporating a frequent fixation on apocalypse and ruin into work that celebrates participation in a mutually created, ever surprising, and even occasionally beautiful world. Which is to say they’re good dance partners and they want to dance with you.

Now based in the woods of rural Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island), The Burning Hell has famously ventured to every out-of-the-way island and inland neglected by the less adventurous, emphasizing presence and connection across latitudes, longitudes, and time, affirming a commitment to the political power of sharing music. It is a profoundly optimistic gesture delivered by way of killer tunes and joyful live performances.

When Mathias and Ariel aren’t on the road or in the studio with the band, they pursue art projects at the intersection of ecology and sound with their collective Idlefield Art Lab. Recent ventures have included mobile, solar-powered recording studios in Scotland and Canada, and off-grid recording projects in abandoned farms and lighthouses.

‘Ghost Palace,’ The Burning Hell’s newest album, will be released on March 7, 2025 on You’ve Changed Records in North America and BB*Island everywhere else.

Nev Clay

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For over a quarter of a century, Nev Clay has been cultivating a
reputation as Newcastle’s best-kept secret. After two albums at the turn
of the millennium, Nev held back on further LPs for over twenty years,
instead making regular appearances in some of Newcastle’s most iconic
venues. During this time, he garnered a devoted following of fans and
musicians who would utter his name with reverence: a songwriter’s
songwriter and one of the country’s underrated gems. In 2024, Clay
released his first album in over two decades, the aptly titled ‘So
Little Happened For So Long’.

Nev’s eye for lyrical detail recalls the likes of John Cooper Clarke and
Jarvis Cocker, but his low-key, lo-fi approach initially reminds the
listener of Rich(ard) Dawson. In fact, it might be the other way round:
Dawson’s earliest music was honed on the same live circuits that Nev
Clay frequented, and the two remain close friends to this day, with
Dawson providing backing vocals on last year’s album.

Press quotes are actually artist quotes (though I’ll listen to his new 6
Music session tonight and see if we can nab anything from there):

“You’d be hard-pressed to hear better guitar playing, better lyrics and
more heart anywhere.” – Kathryn Williams

“The best songwriter in the world is Nev Clay from Newcastle upon Tyne.”
– Rich(ard) Dawson