Treating the world as an instrument.

Matthew Herbert is renowned for pushing the boundaries of sound. Since the 1990s he’s traversed genres from deep house to big band jazz, incorporating everyday objects as unusual sources of music. Nothing is off-limits in his studio, from exploding bombs and the barks of 20,000 dogs to a tank crushing a meal prepared for Tony Blair. His iconic 1998 album Around the House wove domestic sounds into micro-house grooves solidifying his status as a true innovator, and he went on to compose mesmerising film scores, lead his own big band, and found Accidental Records to provide a home for avant-garde collaborators.

Herbert has a history of elevating distinctive vocal collaborations, and the deep artistic synergy of his latest creative partnership with multi-instrumentalist Momoko Gill has us watching closely. After blowing him away with a remix of one of his productions, the pair came together to co-write and produce Clay, released in June 2025 to widespread critical acclaim. Treading between club energy and subtle introspection, and drawing on an array of found sounds from koto strings to the bounce of basketballs, the album is rhythmically complex and full of sample wizardry, but stripped-back, intimate and nuanced with a uniquely beguiling character.

Clay feels like a meeting of two creative minds completely in tune, Herbert and Gill bringing out the best in each other and crafting something neither could have made alone. It's a collaboration that heralds another adventurous chapter for Herbert, but also an introduction to a formidable new voice in the jazz & electronica scene, and by championing Gill, Herbert is continuing his staggering legacy not just as a composer, but a nurturer of new talent. If the quality of Clay is any indication of what’s to come, Gill's forthcoming debut Momoko (produced by Herbert and featuring his voice on the emotional and ambitious When Palestine Is Free) will be something very special indeed.

We spoke with Matthew Herbert to find out more about his philosophy:

What first pushed you toward using found sounds instead of more conventional tools?

Sampling was a more radical technology. It broke open music completely, taking it into documentary and instantly into deeply political spaces. The sample I took of eating an apple was more creative and significantly less exploitative than the extractive, colonial sampling I had sometimes done of black music.

Do you think music made from recorded sounds carries a different emotional quality to synthetic productions?

How can it not? Music made out of Israeli quadcopter drones killing doctors and their families is going to trigger a different response in a listener than music made with a drum kit. They are working with profoundly different materials. I’m not asserting one is better but the difference is profound and unignorable.

What makes a sound ideal to you?

Emmanuel Levinias says there is no transcendence without ethics, so the ideal sound is one harvested within a clear ethical framework. I like sounds with stories, sounds with layers of meaning, sounds with a past. I’m interested in sounds that add friction.

You’ve mentored and elevated so many musicians over the years, what is it that you look for in someone new?

Originality is key but really without sounding glib, I’m looking to work with nice people. The world is going very wrong right now with fascism on the rise and cruelty baked into government policies around the world. It’s a privilege to make music and get paid for it so I want to work with amazing people of course, but crucially those who fundamentally share the same values.

How did you and Momoko Gill meet, and what stood out to you when you first heard her play?

She was recommended by Seb Rochford for the live show of my Horse project. The remix she did for the Horse album stopped me in my tracks for its inventiveness and sympathy. For its kindness, care and precision. I’ve had many remixes done of my music over the years and I’d consider it probably the best of them. 

How did you and her build the tracks on Clay?

We built the songs together. It wasn’t as you described in your end of your roundup of me on beats and her on vocals. We produced the tracks as a deep collaboration across all aspects (apart the lyrics which Momoko wrote).

There’s a warmth and gentleness to the album, was that a conscious goal or is that her unique voice emerging naturally?

It’s nice that comes across, but if it’s there it’s because it was a genuine dialogue and not a separation of roles. Even when there are equal credits, people still seem to assume the man does all the studio stuff, the sonic heavy lifting and the woman’s contribution is decorative.

What can you tell us about how she approaches melody and rhythm, and has she taught you anything new?

From the moment we met she taught me something new and continues to do so. The best collaborators do that. They blow you away either with something you could do but would never have occurred to you to try, or by doing something that you would have never thought to do in the first place. 

Momoko’s approach to melody in particular is unique. Her melodies really worm their way through harmonic changes. They don’t take the obvious route but amazingly don’t sound arch or pretentious. As important though is Momoko’s approach to production and how she hears musical forms and textures in a unique and inspiring way. I call on her more and more for all sorts of projects that I do for her playing, production and skillful ear.

Can you tell us about your work on her forthcoming debut, in particular the creation of When Palestine Is Free?

It was very much a technical role at the end, helping mix the album which she had produced and more or less finished before I got there. When Palestine Is Free was no different except I got to sing a bit on there too. It was great to be part of a community of people raising their voices in optimism for the people of Palestine amidst the genocide.

After decades of experimentation, what still excites you musically?

Right now I’m excited by bonkers folk music from Myanmar.

Momoko Gill's debut album Momoko, featuring the single When Palestine Is Free, will be released by Strut Records on 13 February 2026.