Selected Press for The Jessamine County Book of the Living
"Brilliant" - New York Magazine
"Matt Bauer conjures a warm yet slightly eerie mood with his banjo driven alt folk. The Greenpoint-via-Kentucky folkster has a gorgeous whispery way with a song."- Time Out New York
"At the risk of preaching to the choir, I will state again that Matt Bauer’s newest, The Jessamine County Book Of The Living, is easily one of this year’s strongest releases." -My Old Kentucky Blog
"A continuation of greatness which demonstrates Bauer’s firm grasp of the songwriting craft." - Muzzle of Bees
"Moody folk that’s as much Appalachian as it is apparition. His last album was about the murder of a girl near his childhood home in 1968. His new full length, with Bauer’s pensive banjo and guest vocals from Jolie Holland and The Dirty Projectors’ Angel Deradoorian, is no less haunting." - IFC
Bauer, as a writer, focuses on those moments that fail to cease. They continue on and they make you worry about them for longer than you’d admit. You want to hear more about them. You’d like the other pieces, for their sparseness and their dances in the gloaming light is enchanting. He sings about those people, places and things passing in the night. It feels like most of what he’s interested in occurs during these pitch-black nights, where we can sense that we’re not alone, but we can never be sure. We want to know what’s out there, what’s more. We want to know what’s brushing against us, cutting through the air unseen. It seems to be a part of us, so we yearn. He yearns.” - Daytrotter
Selected Press for The Island Moved in the Storm:
"There is an economic darkness on this recording. Lonely banjos ride along sharp ridges, horns swirl in cold creeks, and there is subtle sense of loss in Bauer’s music that leaves the impression of a man whose demons will not be stilled." -Skyscraper
“An album of fragile beauty” -Under the Radar
“One of this year’s finest records” -Muzzle of Bees
"The Island Moved in the Storm inhabits a strange, beautiful, spiritually satisfying world that is as far from the ordinary run of indie-folk as Kentucky is from Brooklyn. This is quite a beautiful album, subtle and precise in its description of things that are lost, forgotten and forever altering.” – Dusted Magazine
“While the murder ballad is a time-honored tradition in folk music, Matt Bauer’s latest effort, “The Island Moved in the Storm,” takes it to a higher level in the form of a suite. Incorporating imagery from his Kentucky roots, Bauer creates a gorgeous musical travelogue, both spare and fully orchestrated, based on a murder victim known for years only as ‘Tent Girl.’ Matt Bauer whispers the details in a beautiful feathery rasp, inviting you join him as and eyewitness to the secrets of this sad story.” —Irene Trudel, WFMU Program Host
“His songs are outstanding…There’s a sparseness that pervades his debut, The Island Moved in the Storm, and it makes for an unsettling but immediately compelling listen. Bauer’s lyrics are sneaky good, utilizing naturalistic imagery and deft turns of phrase.” -The L Magazine
“Bauer’s deft musings on violent beauty and the natural order of things could serve as a worthy backdrop to scenes from a Terrence Malick or Werner Herzog film.” -mog.com