The Tallest Man On Earth
Just Beyond Endless Mountain

Label: ANTI- Records

Release Date: October 9, 2026
 

Jason Landry, contributor
 

The last time I saw the Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson, a.k.a., The Tallest Man On Earth play a gig was back in 2022. He was slated to play a local venue in New Hampshire but it was postponed twice due to the pandemic. As I finally watched him perform that night, switching between various-tuned acoustic guitars and constantly moving across the stage, It was at this show that I remembered how import live music was to everyone, and especially for my own mental health.

 

Cut to 2026 where Matsson is dropping his newest endeavor, Just Beyond Endless Mountain, an album inspired and influenced by his native land of Sweden and the music of his people, referred to as polskas. For many artists, often times they try and escape what is familiar with something left of center so that they are not pigeon-holed into a sound that isn’t true to their vision. But on Just Beyond Endless Mountain, Matsson looked to challenge himself by channeling the music of his childhood into his own unique blend of contemporary Swedish folklore.

 

Recording at home on old field recording machines things tend to sound under-produced and eerily off, as in the opened track “The Wildest Of His Dream”. You hear a slight tape wobble as the piano plays, void of reverb and maybe slightly out-of-tune. 

 

Adding to his acoustic arsenal by incorporating the violin into the background gives many of the tracks on this album almost a Celtic vibe. On the track “Colors” there is this introspective lyric that I found very poetic: 
 

When we’re stuck in repetition, 

Of the words we keep so near, 

It’s just a ballad of my own voice

And the echoes that I hear.

 

Matsson’s acoustic fingerstyle approach to the guitar is transformative—it becomes a percussive instrument and a vocal partner all at the same time. You experience this first hand on the lead single “Deliver Me From Trying”.

 

“Overboda” is a beautiful duet with Sofia Hultqvist Kott. The ballad has this line in the chorus…to see you, when you drift onto my gravel road of time. I found it to be this reminiscing moment that is experienced when two lovers lock eyes onto one and other.

 

When I think of other albums that evoked a similar feeling on first listen, I have to go back to Sting’s 2013 album The Last Ship where he tackled personal stories from his childhood growing up in a shipbuilding community and sang and played acoustic tunes, like “Dead Man’s Boots” and “The Last Ship”. These songs were extremely personal and detailed and Matsoon hits this same emotional vein in songs like “Times” with lyrics that speak directly to the landscape surrounding him,
 

Oh, I trade all of my passions,

throw in a fistful from sin,

just to look out over your valley,

and be singing, deep within. 

 

Just Beyond Endless Mountain breathes and mirrors the shifting terrain of a rural landscape. It captures this touching feeling of home and heritage in an analog way, something that’s rarely approached at this extent by many contemporary artists in this hyper-digital world. Matsson was able to turn his restless acoustic virtuosity inward, proving that traditional Swedish folk music isn't a museum piece, but rather a living, breathing pulse.