Six Seconds Away is the studio project of Iowa-based multi-instrumentalist Matthew Hepworth.

Originally formed in the wake of a nasty breakup with his high school band, Hepworth decided to pick up where he had left off - writing and recording a full-length album. Only, instead of it being a whole band recording its debut, it would be one person, playing everything.

With an almost maniacal zeal, including dropping out of school twice in one year (and abandoning a scholarship in the process), Hepworth recorded and produced the bulk of Six Seconds Away's then-untitled debut in his dorm room in true DIY fashion, while managing not to alienate most of his neighbors, then recorded vocals with noted Cedar Falls, IA producer Christian Brown (producer/keyboards, The Beat Strings [XOXO Records].)

"Highland Park," Six Seconds Away's debut album, was released in July of 2006. Containing 13 songs that hinted at a maturity beyond the obvious lack of experience and polish, it was a bittersweet achievement - a culmination of almost a year's worth of work, but with no live band with which to promote the record, it was left as an afterthought as Hepworth moved to a different city and returned to school with a renewed focus on going about life in a normal manner (i.e., not dropping out of school.)

But the old itch couldn't be kept away for long, and before long, he was demoing out songs with a drum machine and a 4-track tape recorder. Though the process would be slower this time around (to the tune of 2 years, 1 computer, 1 dorm room and 3 apartments later), the time finally came to make the trek back to Cedar Falls, where Christian Brown would be tapped to not only engineer but produce the follow-up 7-song EP, "A Preview of What Lies Behind Us," released in July of 2009.

With a powerful guest performance from drummer Josh Sparks (ex-Daimera, current Former Thieves) anchoring the rhythmic foundation, Six Seconds Away's sound was able to grow by leaps and bounds as Hepworth and Brown were able to put more focus on the texture of each song. This led to the notoriously ADD-like, constantly genre-shifting sonic signature that Six Seconds Away had hinted at on "Highland Park" going into schizophrenic overdrive, as each song stands apart from the others.

In the intervening time, Six Seconds Away released a 2-song EP in December 2009, entitled "Inertia Comitatus" which continued to show the broadening sonic profile of the project. Six Seconds Away has since been on hiatus as Hepworth has focused on drumming for Iowa City bands Nebula Was and The Vainglorious; however, he has hinted at a possibility of Six Seconds Away releasing a full-length in 2011. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.