Biography

The solo project of British multi-instrumentalist James Mathé, Barbarossa emerged in the latter half of the 2000s with a thoughtful amalgam of minimalist folk, R&B, and electronic-influenced pop. Initially associated with Scotland's Fence Collective, he later signed with Memphis Industries, on which he released albums like 2013's richly textured Bloodlines and 2015's more ambient Imager. Also known for his work as a collaborator, Mathé has worked frequently with Swedish singer/songwriter José González and toured as a member of Junip, POLICA, and This Is the Kit. His songs have been used in prominent television series like Elementary, and How I Met Your Mother. Barbarossa returned in 2021 with the sparse, synth-driven Love Here Listen, produced by James Greenwood of Ghost Culture. A native of London, Mathé's interest in songwriting dates back to childhood when he would work out original melodies on the piano. He first appeared under the Barbarossa name in 2005, releasing the mini-album Sea Like Blood as part of the Fence Collective Picket Fences series. More folk-driven than his later work, Mathé began to experiment with more electronic and R&B textures on his full-length debut, Chemical Campfires, which Fence released two years later. By the early part of the next decade he'd become involved as a collaborator with José González, playing in both his backing band and González's Junip project. These collaborations, combined with Mathé's own varied musical experiences, inspired the intimate, spare compositions on his second album, Bloodlines, which was released by Memphis Industries in 2013. His dreamy follow-up, Imager, arrived two years later in early 2015, and featured a guest performance from González. Over the next few years, Mathé stayed active touring with González and relocating to the coastal town of Margate, in Kent, where he also became a father for the first time. In 2018, he returned with his third Barbarossa album, Lier, recorded in Margate with producer James Greenwood (aka Ghost Culture) and featuring percussion from Sweden's Joel Wästberg. In Greenwood, Mathé found an especially sympathetic creative partner and the two continued working together, first on a stripped-down 2019 reworking of earlier Barbarossa tracks called the tidal pool tapes, then again on the 2021 studio album Love Here Listen. For the latter, the duo worked with an intentionally limited palette of vintage synthesizers to create a spare and engaging electronic pop set. ~ Timothy Monger & Matt Collar, Rovi