The Tallest Man On Earth

Kristian Matsson, the Swedish singer-songwriter behind The Tallest Man on Earth, has spent nearly two decades building one of folk music’s most distinctive voices. Recently featured in a Rolling Stone conversation about his new album and creative evolution, he continues to command attention as a performer whose intense live presence has become his calling card. His catalog now spans seven full-length albums and four EPs since 2006, all written and produced on his own terms.

Matsson grew up in Leksand, Sweden, and first sang lead for the indie band Montezumas before launching his solo career in 2006 with a self-titled five-song EP that earned positive reviews. His breakthrough arrived with “The Wild Hunt,” released 13 April 2010 through Dead Oceans, which had sold over 35,000 copies in the United States by 2011. Critics have compared his songwriting and vocal style to Bob Dylan, a lineage he traced back to discovering Dylan at fifteen and, through him, early American folk voices like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.

His fourth LP, “Dark Bird Is Home,” released 12 May 2015, marked a new chapter as the first record to feature a full band on nearly every track. In 2018 he marked ten years of “The Wild Hunt” with a cover of Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” Self-taught in open tunings after classical training left him bored, he records voice and guitar together on a single track at home, and with Amanda Bergman he co-wrote the score for the Swedish drama film “Once a Year.”