Life on the road is often defined by movement. Airports blur into hotel rooms, cities pass by train windows and entire months can disappear between soundchecks and late-night departures. For Matthew Followill, those in-between moments became the inspiration behind If We’re Apart, I’m Somewhere Missing You, a new twenty-six-track solo album released under the CMF moniker.
While Followill is globally known for his work as lead guitarist in Kings Of Leon, this project occupies an entirely different creative space. Rather than writing songs designed for festival stages and packed arenas, he turns inward, creating music that embraces stillness, atmosphere and contemplation.
The album feels less like a traditional record and more like a travel journal translated into sound. Ambient passages drift in and out of focus, folktronic textures emerge unexpectedly and fragments of melody appear like distant memories. Throughout the project, Followill allows ideas to breathe, resisting the urge to force resolution.
Tracks such as ‘Peach Fuzz‘ and ‘Our National Treasure‘ showcase his ability to transform guitar tones into expansive environments, while pieces like ‘Morningness‘ and ‘Waning Moon‘ and ‘Waxing Moon‘ lean heavily into immersive synthesis and hypnotic repetition.
According to Followill, the album emerged naturally from years spent collecting instruments, equipment and sonic ideas.
“It’s personal and instinctive, inspired by long days on the road where time loses meaning and the world feels cinematic, atmospheric and immersive,” he says.
That cinematic quality is one of the album’s defining characteristics. Many of its compositions feel visual, conjuring landscapes, distant horizons and fleeting moments of reflection. Even when rhythms appear on tracks such as ‘Country Silver‘ and ‘Good Time Killer‘, they function less as danceable grooves and more as subtle forward momentum.
What makes If We’re Apart, I’m Somewhere Missing You particularly compelling is its sense of freedom. There is no pressure to conform to genre expectations, no obvious commercial ambition and no attempt to recreate the success of Kings Of Leon. Instead, Followill allows curiosity to guide the process.
The result is an album that feels deeply human—music for wandering thoughts, long journeys and quiet moments where time briefly seems to stand still.
Track list:
Dually Dreaming
Room Song
Improvision4
Our National Treasure
Morningness
Soap Opera
I Could Live Here
AM.3
I Never Say It, But I Always Want To (You’re Still My Hero)
Good Time Killer
Somnolence
Timeoff
Country Silver
Art Of Speed Talking
Boyboots
5600KLVN
Sega Genesis
Healer Cheeks
Peach Fuzz
Beat On Beauty
Studio 8
AM.2
Mary’s Lamb
Together
Waning Moon
Waxing Moon
Listen Now:
If We’re Apart, I’m Somewhere Missing You, releases June 19th 2026
