“Eska became like a sister to me working on the Big Band record,” Matthew says, the affection evident in his voice.
“Her musicianship is simply unparalleled in terms of people that I’ve worked with. She brings such a different kind of ear to things. When you’re a musician yourself there are two things you respect in other musicians: one is something that you could have done but didn’t realise you could have done. Cathy Dennis is like that, because it sounds so simple you think you should be able to do it but somehow you can’t.
And then the other category is people who do things you never would have thought of. And Eska is very definitely in that second category. She’ll harmonise a line in such a way I never would have thought of. That’s a very, kind of… I don’t know… The majority of music is things you could have done and chose not to, so that’s a very good thing. When you see her live as well, she’s sensational. It’s like she’s from another world.”
