Ancestors Wheel

Recorded live in January 2023, over three days house high up in the Santa Monica Mountains,
'Ancestor's Wheel' captures a moment of raw creativity & collaboration made in conversation
with the surrounding mountains. Ten years after creating 'Campfire Cook' with Bill Fiorella & Toby
Williams, Matthew O'Neill invited his friends to reunite & bring a new body of songs to life. With
oranges ripe on the trees outside the building & plant-life in bloom, the recording was a euphoric
experience, steeped in the energy of regeneration and abundance of the land.
O'Neill's lyrics explore the dynamics of deepening relationality with non-human kin, stories of forced
removal, death & ways of being in generative reciprocity with Mother Earth. With zero nostalgia or
hope, Matthew dreams up scenarios of how the world could be if we chose other ways to live &
express ourselves. His songs invite us to tap into deep earth resonances & ancient ways of seeing
& being, which still exist within each of us. Ultimately he seeks to escape dogma & practice joyful
resistance by living in harmony with the land.
Returning to O'Neill's early roots in soul, funk, R&B, experimental folk & psychedelic rock, 'Ancestor's
Wheel' is filled with live improvisation, the musicians inviting the music to take over in the moment &
open portals to something beyond. Reverb soaked vocals nestle in expansive, luscious instrumentals,
which lead into transcendent meditative soundscapes. Seeking realness over perfection, this record
was led by the heart, medicine songs carried by infectious grooves & masterful performances.

https://matthew-oneill.com/

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