When he returned to the east coast after a spell on BC’s Sunshine Coast, Halifax-based singer-songwriter Mat Hughes started writing and performing homespun songs on his keyboard in an attic-turned studio and makeshift music venue. Almost three years and three EPs later, he’s since upgraded from DIY house shows to playing sets across the country.  Mat’s intricate yet unpretentious songwriting tunes classical technique to a modern pitch with percussive, piano-driven melodies that can turn any crowd into an audience of attentive listeners. His sharp, candid lyricism ranges from the playfully slapstick to the knife-edge of existential pathos in topics like eco-anxiety, self-estrangement, and feeling homesick for a place you’ve never been, or merely passed through.