'Nasturtium Inertia', whose cassette version has two songs not included on the vinyl ('aftermath of the red-ox' and 'scraps and debris') and the other way around ('this rate' and 'melancholy remedy'), is his best album and that's saying a lot. Matthew Himes's voice, which seems to break from sheer fragility, will always be that of a fifties goblin, in his hands the notes are reduced to a layer of worn old vinyl sound that so beautiful, Martian, timeless, vintage, it brings me to tears, without exaggeration, so naked that even 'trees, chants and hollers' by Valerie Webb & Paul Labrecque and 'aren't you ashamed'' by Cap 'n Jack seem produced and conventional. Never have songs sounded so sincere, so confessional, so sad, as if Matthew were trying to tell us something.

I could add adjectives like wonderful, overwhelming, phrases like 'out of this world', 'album of the year even though it was years ago', but they would all fall short of conveying the incredible sadness and melancholy that 'nasturtium inertia' conveys. Matthew, his voice, his way of processing it, his lyrics, his banjo, his ukulele, his old radio cassette, his whistle, his melodies and his self-built guitar, has been able to create those timeless tunes that you come back to again and again. Almost by inertia, like 'scraps and debris', which could be a more naked and millions of times prettier version of 'leaves on the breeze' from the split with Caethua, so above any adjective that it doesn't even matter that it suddenly cut as if it were unfinished, as if it were a sketch. or 'all aboard', or 'joan'. really that everything he can say is small because there are voices, climates, that cannot be explained, only felt. Matthew to the Olympus of the gods, the muses and the elves like Washington Phillips, Ignatz, Keijo, Cap'n Jack, Josephine Foster, Lulu Jackson, Uke of Spaces Corners, Grizzly Prospector, ... hopefully one day he will have the recognition he deserves. deserves and his name appears in an imaginary second anthology of folk like that of Harry Smith. “a ride on a rainbow... it's my makeshift melody... lah dah dah” - Calm in the Trees bit.ly/3Cx8AhU



"I met Matt Himes, the man behind Shep and Me, in Belfast, Maine last spring and I was instantly captivated by his music. Using a mix of incredible folk inspired guitar playing, tape loops, field recordings and his unique voice, he makes some of the eeriest, most engaging folk infused soundscapes I have ever heard. I imagine that Shep and Me sounds like a collection of old dust-bowl folk recordings that have been melted corroded and then discovered seventy five years later. Ghostly, haunting and beautiful are all adjectives that can be used to describe this tape." - El Tule


"The long awaited vinyl pressing of 'Nasturtium Inertia'. For those un-familiar, Shep and Me is the moniker of multi-instrumentalist Matthew Himes. On 'Nasturtium Inertia' he continues to create hauntingly beautiful songs woven out of solo guitar and banjo fragments with ghostly vocals layered on top of electronic drones and warbles. Housed in gorgeous handmade sleeves, painstakingly assembled by Himes himself, don’t miss out on some of the most unique music to come out this year. Limited edition of 300 copies." - Dear Skull


"Vinyl re-issue of a 2009 cassette and our first release from the (now-defunct?) Dear Skull label. This is dark, drony music for the nighttime. More specifically, this feels like Loren Mazzacane Connors meets The Microphones, as plaintive melodies rise up from the murk of lonely guitar lines and scratchy field recordings. Gets deeper with every listen." - Phil Phactor, KFJC