Hali

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Hali, also known as Avian Invasion and Hali of Firpine (real name: Matthew Ebel), is a furry who is a professional musician. He's been musical guest at multiple conventions and was Guest of Honor at Furry Weekend Atlanta 2009, Further Confusion 2012, and Feral! 2016. Hali is known for having been an early pioneer of streaming performances online and allowing fans to provide direct patronage to artists—having set up "The Officer's Club" in 2008, five years prior to the launch of Patreon.[1][2]

Hali's musical output includes furry songs such as Coyote All Night, In the MUCK, A Cautionary Tail, and The Ballad of Jamey and Shawn.

History[edit]

Hali performing at Further Confusion 2013, Photo by Aaron Zschau

Growing up in Washington State, Hali began playing piano at the age of five, and started performing at recitals at the age of six. With twenty years of lessons and a BA in music (emphasis in composition) from Whitworth College, Hali gained the skills to hold his own in any musical environment, and to know how to communicate musically with anyone. “I’ve been able to notice from playing with session players who has really studied music,” he says. “There’s something about the way people play when they’ve studied, and are technically skilled in improvisation.”

Getting his start as a touring artist in the contemporary Christian music scene in the late 90’s, Hali packed up a U-Haul and moved to Nashville with the intention of becoming big in that genre. “That’s why I moved to Nashville, but I quickly realized it wasn’t for me,” Hali says. He follows with a smile, “For the rest of my life I’d have to write about the same subject, and there’s no way I could have done that, no matter how much I love God.” Hali's five years in Nashville strongly influenced his arrangement and writing style. His albums saw Hali evolve from a more traditional piano-based singer/songwriter in the realm of Billy Joel or Elton John into something more uniquely his own. And slightly twisted, in the best possible sense. Jettisoning some of his more organic sounds on Goodbye Planet Earth and incorporating loops, synthesizers, beats and more, Hali found that the new sounds matched his tales of outer space adventure and odyssey.

After Nashville, Hali moved to the Boston area.[when?] In 2011, he added his first regular band member, Runtt, as backup drummer and vocalist.

Starting in 2017, Hali moved to Seattle and began to shift away from primarily producing indie rock music in favour of creating progressive house under the alias "Avian Invasion". He cited the change to growing bored with the genre and a shrinking audience, and found that experimenting with something new re-energised his interest in performing music.[2][3] This new persona was revealed publicly at Furry Fiesta 2018.

The High Orbit Podcast[edit]

Hali formerly hosted and produced the High Orbit Podcast, a space-themed music and news podcast in which Captain Ebel, along with various robot companions, travelled through space aboard the UTF Revolution on the run from the Supreme Empress.[4]

The podcast has since been discontinued, but two musical specials were released as albums.

Discography[edit]

This list is incomplete, you can help WikiFur by expanding it.


As Matthew Ebel[edit]

Albums[edit]

  • Life's Been Good (1999)
  • Filling The Pages (2001)
  • The Wee Hours (EP, 2003)
  • Beer & Coffee (2005)
  • Goodbye Planet Earth (2007)
  • Songs from the Vault, vol. 1 (2009) — compilation of Officer's Club exclusive singles
  • The High Orbit Holiday Special (EP, 2009)
  • Songs from the Vault, vol. 2 (2010) — compilation of Officer's Club exclusive singles
  • Songs from the Vault, vol. 3 (2010) — compilation of Officer's Club exclusive singles
  • The Lives of Dexter Peterson (2012)
  • The Democratically Elected Best of Matthew Ebel / The Unilaterally Mandated Best of Matthew Ebel (2013) — compilation album
  • High Orbit Saves the Pandas (2015)
  • Cognitive Dissonance (2017)

Singles[edit]

  • "GO" (2016)

As Avian Invasion[edit]

Albums[edit]

  • Children of the Stars (EP, 2018)
  • The Procedural Generation EP (EP, 2021)

Singles[edit]

  • "St. Helens" (2018)
  • "A Man Who Needs No Introduction" (2018)
  • "Are You Here (With Me?)" (2018)
  • "A Once Mighty Forest" (2018)
  • "Mad Science" (2018)
  • "Ja'qui's Escape" (2019)
  • "A World of Rain" (2019)
  • "Sun Dance" (2019)
  • "Unchartered Skies" (2019)
  • "Carnival of Animals" (2019)
  • "I Believe in You" (2020)
  • "Around We Go Again" (2020)
  • "Kepler Station" (2020)
  • "Choose Your Weapon" (2020)
  • "Pilot Light" (2020)
  • "House of Bones" (2021)

Convention appearances[edit]

This list is incomplete, you can help WikiFur by expanding it.

Hali has attended many conventions since 2000 and has been a main-stage performer or guest of honor at dozens of conventions since 2007.

As Matthew Ebel/Hali[edit]

Hali performing at Furry Weekend Atlanta 2009.

As Avian Invasion[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Shea, Andrea. "Live From The Basement: Geek Rock!". WBUR. August 20, 2009. Retrieved on January 8, 2022.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matthew Ebel. "A Meaningful Milestone". August 24, 2021. Patreon. Retrieved on January 8, 2022.
  3. "Avian Invasion are creating Progressive House Music". Patreon. Retrieved on January 8, 2022. “And then, around 2017, I started making Progressive House music under the name Avian Invasion. In a sense, Bird One saved me. Some of you were there to watch it happen, but for you new folks I'll make it simple: The eternal struggle of being an obscure, starving indie rocker wore me down til the fire almost went out. The Bird brought me back with a fire more intense than I had during the Beer & Coffee days.”
  4. "High Orbit Podcast with Matthew Ebel". Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved on January 8, 2022.
  5. "Matthew Ebel - Live at TFF 2018". 2018. Mixcloud. Retrieved on January 8, 2022.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Matthew Ebel. "And That's A Wrap". December 10, 2021. Patreon. Retrieved on January 8, 2022.
  7. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 2022Wrap

External links[edit]

This person is a WikiFur user: WikiFur User
Matthew Ebel
Avian Invasion