“I don't know where my brief, brief spurts of confidence come from…” ponders
Matt Maltese. It’s just under a week since Matt wrapped up his final headline tour of 2018, one which showcased him at his fullest and most tongue-in-cheek.
Bartering back and forth with crowds, like a master of ceremonies in a packed pub full of friends and family, cracking jokes and crooning his earnest tales of love and devastating realities across the nation - it was a songwriter in his element and coming to terms with a momentous twelve months.
His debut album, ‘
Bad Contestant’ burst into life in June, a collection of unmistakable and essential odes that made Matt stand out as a fresh voice for modern times, one unafraid to be upfront and honest about life’s ridiculous turns.
Since then, he’s played all over the place, emerging and growing into a confident force and now looking ahead to what comes next. “It’s a funny thing, confidence, isn’t it?”
Across its eleven tracks, ‘Bad Contestant’ stood out as a distinctly real snapshot of living through difficult times. Hilarious at one moment, devastating at the next and vibrating with this warm classic sound of songwriters past, it was the coming-of-age and crowning first step for Matt - something he can reflect on after a packed and important year.
“I’m in a good place about the album,” details Matt. “I feel it was an accurate description of that time in my life. It was a series of a lot of different mindsets, that first album. Having a pretty middle-of-the-road upbringing and ending up in London and there being such vast opposites in the city and what that does to you. You find yourself trying to make your place, but also changing yourself subconsciously - you go through all of that.
