Matt Brouwer

“I hope my music is an invitation for people to engage in the celebration of life, both the great times and the difficult stuff too. No matter how the specifics of our experiences differ, the essence of what we go through is the same. Music helps us celebrate those big moments and also offers comfort and hope in dark times as well. Music provides that common ground. Beyond one song or one album, my dream is to grow old with an audience and share the years, never being afraid to go deep into the conversation of what it means to be human.
I’ve seen how music can bring clarity and resolve to our experiences in a way that marks that passage of time and helps assign meaning to those moments we often take for granted. With this new CD I think that’s the message, being compelled to aggressively seek out that kind of connection with an audience that lasts beyond the shelf life of a product because we were courageous enough to dig a little deeper.” ~ Matt Brouwer
Matt Brouwer was born in the eastern Canadian town of Truro, Nova Scotia. He is the sixth of seven kids born and raised on a dairy farm. In college Matt began to take music seriously and he started a band with a few friends there. “We got together because we had a need to ask some deeper questions.” He remembers, “We were not skilled musicians, just willing to do whatever it took to be together.”
Eventually, what came as a result of that experience was the CD Imagerical, which garnered international attention, received two Vibe Awards (Canadian People’s Choice Award), was nominated for a Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy equivalent), and produced two top 10 CCM radio singles. This album had strong Christian and gospel roots influenced by the music Brouwer grew up with in the church. But instead of becoming typecast in a familiar genre, Brouwer began to stretch out as his writing encompassed more comprehensive subject matter, not in contrast to his original message, but in a way that spoke to the heart of the human experience.
His second CD, Unlearning, was the moment of transition. A rare and lyrically gripping project, this album propelled Brouwer more in the direction of a singer/songwriter, showing signs of a fearless honesty emerging. The project was a clear departure from the highly produced Imagerical CD, stripping away all of the commercialism became an important step in laying the groundwork for an exciting push into the national spotlight. The result was Matt’s first appearance on the Billboard Charts with a 21 single “I Shall Believe” (CCM AC) and a top 5 single on the New Music Weekly Indie Top 40 Chart with “Surrender”.
Growing anticipation finds Brouwer returning to the studio in early 2008 with veteran, Grammy award winning producer, Michael Omartian, to enter into the next phase of his career. Building on the authenticity and depth of Unlearning, Matt is ready to launch his career at a new level. His self-titled CD, Matt Brouwer, will be released in late Spring 2008 to both the CCM and mainstream AC/Top 40 markets.