Matt Maltese

Matt Maltese crafts searching songs with a chamber-pop inclination, drawing on the melodicism and whimsicality of 1960s psych-pop while remaining firmly rooted in the present. He first surfaced in 2015 at age 18 with the self-recorded piano ballad “Even If It’s a Lie,” a track whose lyrics reflect the isolation and futility that marked that period; he has described his output as “Brexit pop.” His major-label debut arrived as the 2018 album Bad Contestant, after which he shifted to Nettwerk for the 2021 follow-up Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow and then issued the more relaxed 2023 set Driving Just to Drive.

Born in Reading, England, to Canadian parents, Maltese absorbed American pop culture alongside British influences during his formative years. The 2015 release of “Even If It’s a Lie” quickly secured a deal with Café Bleu Recordings, which reissued the song in 2016 paired with the EP In a New Bed. Café Bleu also released the 2017 bundle Blood, Sweat & Beers: Live at the Drugstore and Poems from the Road, comprising a live EP and poetry zine. Atlantic then signed him for Bad Contestant, produced by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado. Following a U.S. tour, Maltese wrote and recorded the breakup-themed Krystal in his London bedroom; the album appeared on Atlantic’s 7476 imprint. He next collaborated with Rado, Ben Baptie (Cage the Elephant, Rex Orange County), and the Lemon Twigs’ Brian D’Addario, among others, on the 2020 Madhouse EP, marking his Nettwerk debut. Early 2021 singles “Shoe” and “Mystery” preceded the October arrival of Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow, with the holiday track “Nothing Breaks Your Heart Like Christmas” following in November. In advance of his third album he issued two understated piano ballads celebrating life’s unplanned moments, the second of which, “Driving Just to Drive,” lent its title to the 2023 LP.