Matt Sargent is a composer, guitarist, and recording engineer based in upstate New York. His music has been described as “bringing a sharpened sense of the transcendental into the 21st century.” (Paul Muller, Sequenza21) Writing about his 2018 album Ghost Music, Bill Meyer states, “this music isn’t about following in anyone’s footsteps; it uses bare resources to establish a bounded and essential place.” (The Wire Magazine)
His albums include Illuminations (Sawyer Editions, 2024), Bend (Waveform Alphabet, 2023), Between Time and After (Chen Li Music, 2023), Tide (A Wave Press, 2020), Separation Songs (Cold Blue Music, 2019), Tide (for ten basses) (Marginal Frequency, 2019), and Ghost Music (Weighter Recordings, 2018).
Matt is currently engaged with expanding available repertoire for the pedal steel and electric guitar. In 2022, he commissioned new music for solo pedal steel from Michael Pisaro-Liu, Carl Stone, and Nomi Epstein. This season, his guitar collaborations with Robert Carl for just intonation guitar and electronics were released on Carl’s Infinity Avenue (Neuma Records, 2024). His recording of James Romig’s hour-length piece for electric guitar, The Fragility of Time, will be released by A Wave Press in 2024.
Matt is an assistant professor of music at Bard College.