Kings Of Leon’s Matthew Followill launches solo ambient project as CMF with ‘If We’re Apart, I’m Somewhere Missing You’

Matthew Followill

Matthew Followill is stepping into unfamiliar territory with the launch of his new solo project CMF and debut release ‘If We’re Apart, I’m Somewhere Missing You’, a 26-track body of work exploring ambient music, folktronica and more introspective sonic landscapes.

Best known as lead guitarist and co-founder of Kings Of Leon, Followill has spent years helping shape one of modern rock music’s biggest success stories. Through CMF, however, he moves away from arena-sized songwriting and guitar-driven anthems, instead delivering something considerably more personal and exploratory.

Across the project, atmosphere takes centre stage. Washed-out textures, drifting melodies and hazy sound design replace more familiar rock structures, creating a collection of compositions that feel closer to emotional sketches and cinematic moments than conventional songs.

Tracks including ‘Our National Treasure’, ‘Soap Opera’, ‘I Never Say It, But I Always Want To (You’re Still My Hero)’ and ‘Peach Fuzz’ highlight the project’s softer and more expressive side, allowing Followill’s guitar work to unfold gradually amongst broader ambient textures.

Elsewhere, the record pushes further into electronic experimentation. ‘Morningness’ introduces drifting arpeggiated movement, while ‘AM.2’ and ‘AM.3’ lean into warmer drone-led atmospheres. ‘Waning Moon and Waxing Moon’ expands things through layered pads and spacious arrangements, creating moments that feel immersive rather than immediate.

Rhythm also begins to appear more prominently throughout certain parts of the project. Tracks such as ‘Country Silver’ and ‘Good Time Killer’ introduce more structured movement underneath the atmospherics, while warped delays, granular textures and psychedelic details quietly surface across the wider record.

Rather than feeling disconnected from his past work, CMF feels more like a different perspective on it.

While the scale and structure may have changed, there remains an emotional openness and melodic instinct underneath these recordings that still carries traces of Matthew Followill’s wider musical identity.

With ‘If We’re Apart, I’m Somewhere Missing You’, Followill offers a glimpse into a more experimental and deeply personal side of his artistry, revealing what happens in the spaces between stadium stages and familiar expectations.