Reference Point: Matthew Herbert
Reference Point: Cultural bonbons from film industry aesthetes
MATTHEW HERBERT
Musician | Composer
Place of origin:
Womb
Home base:
U.K.
PROJECTS:
STARVE ACRE | THE HORSE (ALBUM) | THE WONDER | A FANTASTIC WOMAN | LIFE IN A DAY | DISOBEDIENCE | THE CAVE
CURRENTLY WORKING ON: THE HOT MILK FILM SCORE AND MY FIRST FILM, LISTEN LIKE A BANANA, WHICH RECORDS THE SOUNDS MY BANANA HEARS AS IT MAKES ITS WAY FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TO MY BREAKFAST TABLE IN KENT
Photo: Elena Heatherwick
November 28, 2023
From left: The Rider, dir Chloé Zhao, 2017; Follow the Fleet, dir. Mark Sandrich, 1936; The Disciple, dir. Chaitanya Tamhane, 2020; Phantom Thread, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017; Woman in the Dunes, dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964
FILM
Last film you saw that you loved:
The Rider
Actor you would watch in anything:
Fred Astaire
Favorite movie theater:
The Carlton in Westgate-on-Sea
Director(s) whose work you love:
Sebastián Lelio
Film you would like to inhabit:
The Disciple, written and directed by Chaitanya Tamhane
Coveted item from a character’s wardrobe:
All the Phantom Thread outfits
Film you will never tire of:
The Disciple
Scene that haunts you:
Most of Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes
MUSIC
Currently listening to:
Road noise
Last live show you saw:
Feist in Barcelona—now that was pretty special
Default karaoke track:
“Endless Love” with Lionel Richie and Diana Ross
Endless Love (Soundtrack)
Favorite radio station:
BBC Radio 3
From left: Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan, Shy by Max Porter
BOOKS
Last great book you read:
Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan
Favorite authors:
Georges Perec
A book you consider required reading:
The Gift by Lewis Hyde
Magazines or books on your coffee table:
Shy by Max Porter
Writer you’d most like to have a cocktail with:
Lucy Prebble
From left: Lucie Rie and her ceramics; A Storm Inside You, Daisy Parris, 2021; Silence by John Cage; the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo
ART
Favorite museum or gallery:
Nippon Mingeikan, or Japan Folk Crafts Museum, in Tokyo
Artist(s) you most admire:
John Cage
What’s hanging on your walls:
a work by Daisy Parris
Piece of art you’d most like to own:
a Lucie Rie vase
From left: interior of Paloma Gormley’s Flat House in Cambridgeshire, England; a 1982 BMW E21 Alpina C1 2.3; an Akiko Hirai sake bottle
DESIGN
Do you collect anything:
Ceramics and paintings
Most prized object:
1982 BMW E21 Alpina C1 2.3
Designer/architect you admire:
Paloma Gormley
Most beautiful room you’ve been in:
One where my family happens to be
Favorite quotidian design object:
Akiko Hirai sake bottle
From left: Byodoin Temple in Kyoto; Chapel Timios Stavros in Tinos island, Greece
TRAVEL
City you most love to visit:
Florence
Favorite hotel in the world:
Lloyd Hotel, Amsterdam
Best vacation you’ve ever taken:
Tinos, Greece
Place where you find sanctuary:
A temple in Kyoto
Level of interest in traveling to space:
14 percent
