Atlantic Records kicked off the week with a musical bang Tuesday, March 19, when Matt Maeson played for a small crowd to promote his upcoming debut album Bank On The Funeral.
The intimate acoustic performance began at 4 pm, just in time for a nice coffee break, or in this case, pizza, and Heineken beer break. Like clockwork, right at 4:03 pm Maeson took to the stage and played three songs, his most well-known “Cringe” and two new ones, “I Just Don’t Care That Much” and “Legacy.”
The talented singer-songwriter grew up in Virginia and began his career at 17 performing for inmates at maximum-security prisons across America. “I’d get up and do these acoustic songs on my guitar, and they’re still the best shows I’ve ever done,” says Maeson. “You’re playing for all these people who are treated like they’re monsters, and it feels like spreading some light into a really dark place.”
On his debut album, Maeson’s own gritty, honest and poetic lyrics pains a candid picture of tension between light and dark in his own life. For example, the album name, Bank On The Funeral, also takes its name from the closing track, a song that was written for his uncle, who was murdered when Maeson was six years old. We see the same outspoken and painfully self-aware theme through his other songs, especially the one he performed live titled, “I Just Don’t Care That Much,” with introspective lyrics “Maybe life was just a bet/That I lost to drugs and cigarettes.” With powerfully confessional lyrics like that paired with his upbeat rhythms, Maeson’s album is greatly anticipated and will most likely be a sensational hit.
