Mattiel’s upcoming third LP, Georgia Gothic, will likely earn the award for 2022’s most straightforward album title. The album’s cover features Mattiel Brown and Jonah Swilley donning red-leather suits (of sorts) and grasping pitchforks in a sort of space-age, fetish homage to Grant Wood’s famous painting. The 11 tacks contained within somehow manage to seamlessly merge heartland rock with new wave in a manner that would have been perfect for any of MTV’s charts in the mid-late ‘80s, and also lends itself surprisingly well to what a lot of maturely subversive, former-goth thirtysomethings currently appreciate musically.
Georgia Gothic, out March 18th, follows up 2019’s Satis Factory, the Atlanta-based duo’s sophomore effort, featuring single “Millionaire,” a sunshine psychedelic romp through Brown and Swilley’s favorite facets of Americana. Their third LP, however, features a new process of writing and recording for the band. Holed up in together in a woodland cabin, the conception of Georgia Gothic found the two collaborating more intimately than ever before. “This was the first time we made a point to just be together and work out ideas in the same room. That was the initial intention … it was about learning what each other wanted to accomplish on a sonic level, and then just trying different things out,” Swilley said of the process, according to the band’s most recent press release.
While Mattiel spent their earliest years getting to know each other in the studio and on the road, Georgia Gothic is the sound of the relationship that has developed since. “Everything happened backwards. Normally, you’d have friends that make a band … with us, we started making music from the jump, and then became homies,” Swilley said of the experience. However, Mattiel are currently more than ready to get their latest sounds out on the road. They kick off a two-month US tour on February 25th in Asheville and will spend May trekking through Europe. On Tuesday, March 1st, Mattiel will be headlining our very own Johnny Brenda’s, which really is the perfect excuse for us to all get dolled up in our best leathers with our own favorite homies.
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