Leaving aside genes, which possibly lay a foundation of integrity and strong artistic will, he is a musical product of the Swedish folk movement, American jazz/blues tradion and today's "world music".

Mats grew up in an environment of hymns, folk songs, jazz and classical music, and as a child he came into close contact with different musical expressions and the personalities of modern jazz. Other influences from early years were Bob Marley's reggae and early blues music.

As a guitarist, he also played at a young age with choirs such as the Gothenburg Chamber Choir, the Oslo Chamber Choir with conductor Grete Pedersen, VoNo with conductor Lone Larsen, and a number of choirs in more temporary contexts in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe.

Mats' guitar playing reflects all these worlds: the care for the Nordic folk melodies, the American jazz tradition and more recently the contact with American minimalism, modal music and not least African music.

Mats' compositions also grow in this soil of simple ballads to advanced jazz songs. An important part of his music-making has also been the interaction with sing and song writers and actors and his lifelong collaboration with Daniel Lemma.

In recent years Mats, in collaboration with his wife My Engström-Renman, has produced children's music as the duo "My & Mats" and bossa nova interpretations as the duo "Mats & My".