Matthew James Thomas on Revealing ‘a Different Side of Me’ in His Emotional New EP No Sound at All

Pippin headliner and Spider-Man alum Matthew James Thomas has officially added a new credit to his resume—recording artist! His new EP No Sound at All is available digitally on June 19, produced by Spring Awakening composer Duncan Sheik. We caught up with Thomas to get a preview of his new project. 

“I’ve been involved in music for a long time,” the British-born star told Broadway.com. “Suddenly, I'm in [New York], doing this crazy show [Spider-Man] and having a great time, but not having a lot of time to get any [of my own] music together.” In his limited spare time, Thomas began writing poems which evolved into three moving songs: “No Sound at All,” “Mother” and “Not So Simple.”

Thomas was blown away when he found out Sheik was interested in producing his songs. “Duncan has been a real support to my music and immediately took to working on the project with me, which was so surprising and exciting," he says. "I’m a big admirer of his work, and especially admired how he’s managed to cross over into the world of musical theater.”

The Pippin star is taking the reverse approach, and he hopes fans of Spider-Man and Pippin will embrace his more “alternative” sound. “I don't think my style of writing is in any way musical theater. There’s hopefully a very expressive quality to it, but this music is something completely different. I’m hoping that people will like this different side of me.”

The new release, which incorporates four string instruments, piano, drums and percussion, was recorded at Sheik’s studio in Garrison, NY, Sneaky Studios. “I used instruments I felt were appropriate to the feelings that were produced by these poems—based on moments of my life that were very profound and sometimes difficult. I felt I couldn’t go anywhere else but to the piano and bash them out,” Thomas says.

When will Thomas debut his new tracks in concert? “I think the idea is to [play a concert], but at this point, I just want the album to be out there. And if there’s a demand for a concert,” he says, “I’m sure there’ll be one!”