Residence: Ann Arbor | Genre: Synth-Pop, Indietronica

Label: Ghostly International | Most Recent Release: Preacher’s Sigh & Potion: Lost Album (2021)

Bio: Taking inspiration from various musical sources like Depeche Mode and Detroit techno, Matthew Dear has been innovating electronic music for over two decades. Born in Texas, Dear moved to Detroit in 1995 when he was 16 years old, where he began recording songs with an acoustic guitar. His journey into electronic music began when he started attending raves at abandoned warehouses in Detroit, and continued while attending the University of Michigan by throwing raves in a local pizza shop basement and co-founding his label, Ghostly International. His first single, “Hands Up For Detroit,” would later be sampled in a hit song. Dear would go on to release eight studio albums under his name. His most recent, “Preacher’s Sigh & Potion,” was an album of shelved material from a decade prior. He currently gives lectures at the UofM.