Matt Sephton is a producer and sound artist based in Te Tara o Te Ika / Coromandel, Aotearoa New Zealand. His practice explores electronic music, field recording and ecological listening, making work that is responsive to place, shaped by deep listening and collaborative encounters.
Having grown up on the Coromandel Peninsula, Sephton developed a long-standing practice in bass-heavy electronic music, (which may seem at odds with the peaceful landscape! but it makes sense somehow) performing and recording for many years under the alias Matt Rapid. In 2025 he took a deliberate step in a new direction, one rooted in place, community and personal experience.
That step was VĀ, his debut album under his own name, released March 2026. Created during a two and a half month artist residency at the Tiapapata Art Centre on the island of Upolu, Samoa, the album was built through a process of sound weaving: field recordings, hydrophone explorations, found sounds and bass-heavy electronic production, made in collaboration with Samoan musicians, makers and communities. It is a sonic journal of place, time and connection.
VĀ is the first chapter in an ongoing practice of place-based music-making.
