Matt Costa ‘Unfamiliar Faces’
Brushfire/Island, out now
‘Cigarette Eyes’ c/w ‘Mr Pitiful’
Single released July 21
UK dates this summer
“Matt Costa’s debut, Songs We Sing, was a breath of multi-layered fresh air. Unfamiliar Faces shares its winning way with hummable, always beautifully textured songs, but Costa has refined his art and taken a giant leap forwards. He’s getting near to brilliant” Q MAGAZINE
Matt Costa returns to the UK this summer in support of his ‘Unfamiliar Faces’ album which included the BBC Radio 2 playlisted single ‘Mr Pitiful’. Sun 29 June - Wakestock Festival, Oxfordshire http://www.wakestock.co.uk/
Mon 30 June – King Tuts, Glasgow http://www.kingtuts.co.uk/
Tues 1 July – The Cluny Newcastle
Thurs 3 July – Monto Water Rats, London http://www.themonto.com/listings_detail.php?listings_i d=494
Fri 4 July – The Happening Festival, Godrevy Beach, St Ives, Cornwall
www.thehappeninglive.com tickets £18.
Sun 6 July - Wakestock Festival, Abersock http://www.wakestock.co.uk/
On his 2006 debut Songs We Sing, Matt Costa established his reputation as a performer, wrapping introspective lyrics in textured melodies and creating a sound that was at once a throwback to another musical time while remaining thoroughly modern. With the February, 2008 release of Unfamiliar Faces, his second on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, Costa mines his imagination once again, crafting an ambitious collection of songs that explore themes of love, loss and fear. From the piano-driven opener “Mr. Pitiful” to the title-track, Unfamiliar Faces traverses musical styles drawing on elements of pop, country, folk and rock resulting in an effortlessly intoxicating musical experience.
Even for the fully initiated, Matt Costa is an enigma – a 25 year old, former skateboarder whose words and music recall some of the great troubadours of our time. Costa credits his diverse musical palette to the freedom and improvisation he experienced skating. “Any instrument that allows you the freedom to be creative, whether it be a skateboard or a canvas, it’s all a tangible way of discovering yourself,” says Costa.
After a life-changing accident left him in an 18-month recovery period, Costa dove head first into music, finding solace in the creative process. His music made its way through the vibrant SoCal arts scene and into the hands of No Doubt’s Tom Dumont, who mentored Costa and produced Songs We Sing. "One of the first things he told me was 'stop practicing so hard and let the feeling come out,'" Costa says. "It stuck with me because that's the key to music. The light went on in my head."
When Matt Costa sat down to write what would become Unfamiliar Faces the singer/songwriter took his most treasured belongings and put them on a shelf — then stared at them and just let the memories flow.
"That way I could see everything that I loved," he explains (the collection included his favorite books, a giant wooden pipe, and a box of old 45-speed records from the late 1950s). "I let my imagination wander. Regular life isn't as exciting as an imaginary life."
He may thrive on imagination, but Costa's real life has never been dull. He grew up next door to a pet cemetery, played trumpet and piano, gave his first impromptu performance on a houseboat, and focused more on skateboarding than school in his hometown of Huntington Beach, California. He was drawn to the freedom and improvisation of skating, and also says, "I discovered a lot of music through skating — B-sides that nobody else had heard that made me want to find more music."
A few years later, just before he was ready to turn pro, a life-changing leg break led him to turn his attention to songwriting while he healed from painful surgeries. He wrote some songs on guitar, befriended No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont via the vibrant SoCal arts scene, and recorded Songs We Sing with Dumont as his guide.
On the strength of the folky, beautiful Songs, which displays his gentle artistry and skillful acoustic guitar playing, Costa earned a rep as an L.A. buzz act, crisscrossed the U.S. in a van, and performed at all the major North
