All Songs At 15: When The Tallest Man On Earth Played The Tiny Desk

By Bob Boilen  |  NPR

Every Thursday this year we’re celebrating All Songs Considered‘s 15th birthday with personal memories and highlights from the show’s decade and a half online and on the air. If you have a story about the show you’d like to share, drop us an email: allsongs@npr.org.

A few weeks ago, The Tallest Man on Earth released another deeply personal and strong set of songs on an album called Dark Bird is Home. I saw Kristian Matsson, a.k.a. The Tallest Man on Earth, in Philadelphia a few weeks ago at WXPN and was reminded how enormously intimate his performances are. When this video came out, he was hardly known outside his home country, Sweden. But it didn’t take long for this Tiny Desk Concert to catch fire, in part because of the intensity and intimacy of his performance — qualities that make, I think, for my favorite Tiny Desk Concerts. On YouTube alone, this video has been seen more than two million times.

So today we revisit Kristian Matsson and music from his first album, Shallow Grave, in hopes of igniting your interest in his new music and current tour. He’s a very special talent.

To download video of this Tiny Desk Concert — and any/all of those before it — subscribe to the “Live in Concert From All Songs Considered” podcast here.

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