The Suitecase Junket

Overview

Not everyone can pull off the one-man-band gambit without lapsing into schtick, but Amherst's Matt Lorenz has it all down to an art[…]The songs are what you remember. -THE BOSTON GLOBE, If croons could kill, this one-man band would be a bounty hunter. Armed with a unique, self-sufficient approach to raw instrumentation, The Suitcase Junket is an artisan of song, bending, forging and sharpening each piece into an emotional tool. -Performer Magazine. Remember the first day you heard The Suitcase Junket…his songwriting is extraordinary…This is one of the most exciting records I've heard in years. -Vin Scelsa of Idiot's Delight on WFUV and Sirius/XM, Channeling his inner Tuvan, Lorenz’s singing voice comes from somewhere at the fringe of guttural and hummingbird nectar-sweet. There’s a tinge of Waits and a hint of Dylan, in both vocal styling and social consciousness -- the way his songs are crafted and honed, not strewn about. Make Time truly travels to various destinations of musical fortitude and emotion[...]It's one hell of a ride that holds its resonance well after the record has stopped spinning. - No Depression. What’s impressive is not merely the complexity of the endeavor—Lorenz sings, strums and plays up to four instruments with his feet at once—but how utterly he is able to transcend the mechanical minutiae. Close your eyes, and you’ll hear a garage rock band, complete with a drum set and growling, overdriven guitars. Lorenz writes athletic songs with indelible hooks, and he can bring it down, too, picking out warbling melodies with his fingers. -The Artery, WBUR 90.9. He’s an in-the-moment multi-instrumentalist, a true one-man band, carefully connecting and arranging unique objects around himself so that he’s a singer, guitarist, drummer and percussionist all at once. - Daily Hampshire Gazette. The guy injects just as much energy, life and vibrancy into his songs as any multi-person act. He is a true force of nature, a feverous ball of positive energy and light. The slightly over-driven guitar, the heartbeat like thump of the bass (suitcase) drum, and Lorenz’s fantastic vocal, harmonious, gorgeous, with just the right amount of grit and honesty that grabs you and never lets go. - Red Line Roots blog. He deploys his oddball, lo-fi but forceful sound in the service of well-conceived, engaging songs with literate and interesting lyrics." "The Suitcase Junket is much more than a curiosity or a novelty act, he's a serious artist who shouts and winks at us at the same time, and has deep things to say to an open mind. - Seattle Post Intelligencer. In a world where everything is layered to death and drenched in effects, Matt's simple and direct approach easily stands out from the pack. He's a different sort of one man band, combining ideas and sounds from long ago with sounds of the present. - Baby Sue blog, The magic Matt Lorenz spins is potent stuff…[he] has a knack for finding poetry in unlikely places. Lorenz conjures the kinds of sounds and melodies you might hear late at night coming from a campfire in a junk yard: wild, brash and often beautiful, veering from one extreme to another. - The Valley Advocate, His songs have a sense of beauty about them and are delivered with such forceful sound you can’t believe you aren’t listening to a full band. - Greenfield Recorder, With a guitar from an oil can and a percussion section hidden inside a piece of battered luggage...he performed his wonderfully passionate roots music, belted forth from the junk he’d stitched together. All by himself, he sounded like a full hobo band playing on a train racing rhythmically onward. - Preview Massachusetts Magazine, July 2011, A listen to the music he creates reveals a deft touch and a heady knack for assembling sounds. - The Valley Advocate, October 2010.