The Life of Lawrence Matthews takes place in the in-betweens. Born and raised in a lower middle class neighborhood fixed between the Mississippi border, the Memphis City Limits and the well off suburban Germantown and Collierville; his life was lived in places, ignored, forgotten and in the liminal interiors of southern family homes and spaces. Matthews’ life and work exist as an extension of the southern gothic voices with whom he is aligned. He emerges as somewhat of a Morrisonian beloved ghost, a child who needed more. Now, fully grown as a manifestation of his environment’s love and bitterness intertwined.

With a BFA from The University of Memphis and a decade long career working with various arts nonprofits, his work in nearly every area of the arts is an amalgamation of his whole life. As a young artist he’d create with the rap, soul and alternative rock references he’d come in contact with. Visually inspired by the regionalistic mythology of Paul Thomas Anderson and early Spike Lee; Matthews' own visuals weave African spirituality with the Christian mythology that permeates the region, highlighting the deep relationship between the often maligned spiritual connections Black people have explored for generations, creating a hauntingly familiar but surreal viewing experience.Introduced to new sounds by way of underground mixtapes and 2000s video countdowns, these sonics blended with the eccentricities of acts like Outkast and grittier more reality-driven music from the south creating a diverse palate that Matthews pulls from when crafting the imagery that populates his own art.

On his debut album Between Mortal Reach & Posthumous Grip, Matthews introduces himself focusing on the overlaps of his experiences with twisted confessions and deep longings. Anchored by sample-heavy production and clever wordplay, Between Mortal Reach & Posthumous Grip finds Matthews moving forward with bravado, quiet tenderness, seething anger, and a wistful melancholy, all while providing thoughtful discourse on art, mythology, blackness, and sexuality from the heart of the bible belt.

Inspired as much by Outkast as Bon Iver, Matthews shows himself as a fluid artist, finding the line between braggadocio and tender lamenting, shown so effectively on the contrasting songs “Limelight Honey” and “Breonna’s Curse”. On this album, Matthews finds a perfect balance between the dark and the light, between the devastating and the beautiful. Through these melancholic emotions, there is a strong through-line of joy. Joy in the form of an openness that allows a full range of expression, making way for a different type of beauty that embodies his southern home, a place that has formed Matthews. The turbulent yet inspiring story of “bluff city” is the story of Lawrence Matthews. And with that, Matthews leans into a more far-reaching version of himself that encapsulates all possibility. Infinitely abundant and expansive in every direction.