Posted: 1st August 2023 | Back to news feed
Matthew Herbert is a celebrated artist, producer and composer, having recently launched his latest album “The Horse”. He used a full-size horse skeleton to craft instruments for entirely unique sounds and collaborated with the London Contemporary Orchestra to create a suite of compelling and curious, ritualistic tracks, which many have said, bring the horse back to life.
A five-minute feature film has been produced to accompany the album by Academy Award winning director, Sebastian Lelio.
Lelio is a critically acclaimed Chilean Director, Editor, Producer and Screenwriter who won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2018 for A Fantastic Woman. His other films include Gloria starring Julianne Moore) and The Wonder with Florence Pugh, all of which were scored by Herbert. His collaboration with Matthew Herbert has resulted in a thought-provoking short film/video to the track “The Rider” on The Horse.
The beautiful film was shot in Argentina with famous Gaucho, Martin Tatta and his herd of horses in the wild, showing the unique relationship between man and animal. It demonstrates that with trust and understanding a bond can be made which is unbreakable. Tatta is internationally renowned for working at liberty with horses at his Estancia La Bamba De Areco, in a province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tatta has worked training horses since he was a child, taking it back to his Doma Indian heritage, [having adopted the skill from the native Indians]. Also known as Mansedumbre [translating to meekness, but meaning to control without violence], or more commonly referred to as horse whispering in the UK, Tatta didn’t learn the art of horse whispering from anyone, but instead taught himself through intuition. “I didn’t watch people doing it or learn from a teacher; I just did what I felt was right, in my own way”, he said.
Herbert, the composer, has the utmost respect, passion and love for horses, and this is at the forefront of his incredible musical creation. This spectacular film signifies just that, in the most striking way. You can see Tatta make the horse completely relaxed, he then gently brings it to ground and lays down on top of it, rubbing his head against its neck, and they gently touch noses. The horse looks content, and the pair seem to flow in movement as one. It is an astonishing display of horsemanship, backed by a track “The Rider” which has been specifically remastered to compliment the emotion of the film. It is ground-breaking, and awe inspiring and available to view in full below:
Matthew Herbert has worked on countless award-winning projects across television, film, video games and theatre, and was nominated for both a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello award this year. He has been commissioned by institutions such as the Royal Opera House, Manchester International Festival and Deutsche Grammophon to name just a few.
He will be touring with “The Horse” in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh International Festival 18th August, The Barbican, London, 14th October, London, Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg 16th October, and Theater Des Westens, Berlin 18th October this year and tickets are available from https://www.matthewherbert.com/live.
The Horse is available now to listen to and purchase here.
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