Matt Maltese has shared “Museum,” the latest off his forthcoming album Driving Just To Drive, which comes out on April 28th via Nettwerk Records (Miya Follick). Driving Just To Drive is the first major body of work from the British artist since his 2021 album Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow. Frank Ocean has featured Matt’s single “Rom-Com Gone Wrong,” on his Blonded Radio. Maltese has also written music with Joy Crookes and Celeste for their new records.

“”Museum” is a self-professed ode to his hometown of Reading, and features backing vocals from Sorry’s Asha Lorenz. Matt says: “This song, along with [previous single] ‘Mother’, was really a building block for the album. It came from really reflecting on my relationship to my hometown of Reading. You change a lot but these places hold those different versions of yourself that you were and that you can’t change. I always couldn’t wait to leave Reading… it had that middle-ground feeling between city and countryside, and I craved the city. It’s funny because I have often felt like my life didn’t really begin until I moved to London at 18. In some ways that’s true, but also there’s a whole life lived in this other place that I’ve frankly never really wanted to think about or write about.

I like my current self more than my teenage self, but I also realised it’s a shame to not see how the present is so intertwined and indebted to the past. Every day you’ve lived shapes who you’ve become, and Reading has been home for a lot of those days, even if it isn’t now. Even reacting against it has shaped me. I think I finally feel a lot more like I want to embrace it, even if I can’t relate to those years as much anymore.”

Everybody is searching for happiness – and although it might be impossible to find, Matt Maltese is getting closer. For his fourth album, in order to look forward the musician finally let himself look back to the past. Reflecting on a sense of place, the meaning of where you grew up and the secret to being able to just enjoy the moment, Driving Just To Drive finds Maltese at his most free.

“When I was younger, I was über earnest – when I was 18 and got my heart broken I lost this ego thing in me, and it brought back earnestness in a way,” Maltese says of the governing emotions that guided him to a level of pure nostalgia and romanticism that elevates this album into a more powerful, sincere plane than ever. “I’d pushed that earnestness away as I felt self-conscious, but as time goes on, there’s no time anymore for self-deprecation. I think the way I lived my life before 2021 was all thinking. I now try to think less, and be less precious with what I write.”

The album’s sound in part comes from Maltese working with a producer for the first time in a while – a first-time producer at that, in Josh Scarbrow. It was only after thriving in a songwriting space, collaborating with Joy Crookes, Celeste, Etta Marcus and more, that Maltese better realised how he wanted to write for himself. “I’m bad at letting go to make someone else help me, but I’ve got better,” Maltese says. “Sharing those moments in real life with another person is just really nice. Josh hadn’t made an album before which I loved, and also working with someone my age ended up being really important.”

Malt Maltese
Driving Just To Drive
Tracklisting
Nettwerk Records

1. Mother
2. Irony Would Have It
3. Florence
4. Mortician
5. Museum
6. Widows
7. Coward
8. Driving Just to Drive
9. Hello Black Dog
10. Suspend Your Disbelief
11. But Leaving Is

Matt Maltese 2023 Tour Dates

5 May | Shaky Knees Festival, Atlanta
26 May | Lido Connect, Bangkok
31 May | Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
2 Jun | Northcote Social, Melbourne
3 Jun | The Landsdowne Hotel, Sydney
9 Jun | Governors Ball Festival. New York City

Pre-order Driving Just To Drive by Matt Maltese HERE