Matt Maltese's searching, chamber pop-leaning songs are steeped in the melodicism and whimsicality of '60s psych-pop but also very much of their own time. Making his debut with the piano ballad "Even If It's a Lie (Demo)" as a teenager in 2015, many of his lyrics are mired in feelings of the isolation and futility associated with the unfolding era. Referring to his own music as "Brexit pop," his first album, 2018's Bad Contestant, doubled as his major-label debut. He moved to Nettwerk for his sophomore long-player, 2021's Good Morning It's Now Tomorrow, followed in 2023 by the more relaxed vibes of Driving Just to Drive.

Born in Reading, England, to Canadian parents, Maltese claims to be as equally influenced by the American pop culture he consumed in his youth as by his homeland's. He emerged with the self-recorded "Even If It's a Lie" as an 18-year-old in 2015. It quickly led to a record deal with Café Bleu Recordings, which reissued the song the following year alongside the EP In a New Bed. In mid-2017, Maltese returned with Blood, Sweat & Beers: Live at the Drugstore and Poems from the Road, a bundled live EP and poetry zine also issued by Café Bleu. 

Atlantic came calling and signed Maltese for his full-length debut, 2018's Bad Contestant. It was produced by Foxygen's Jonathan Rado. After returning from a tour of the U.S., Maltese wrote and recorded his second album, the breakup-inspired Krystal, in his London bedroom. It was released by Atlantic imprint 7476. He then teamed up with Rado, Ben Baptie (Cage the Elephant, Rex Orange County), and the Lemon Twigs' Brian D'Addario, among others, for 2020's Madhouse EP, his Nettwerk Records debut. The singles "Shoe" and "Mystery" appeared in early 2021, both of which were featured on Maltese's sophomore full-length effort, Good Morning It's Now Tomorrow, which arrived later that October. The holiday single "Nothing Breaks Your Heart Like Christmas" arrived the following month. Ahead of his third album, Maltese released a pair of low-key piano ballads aimed at embracing life's more spontaneous pleasures. The latter of the two, "Driving Just to Drive," served as the title track to his 2023 album of the same name. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi

Matt Maltese

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