Atlanta’s powerhouse rock’n’soulers, Mattiel, made up of Mattiel Brown and Jonah Swilley, share a live performance video for “Cultural Criminal,” the latest track from their third album, Georgia Gothic, which is released on Heavenly Recordings this Friday, March 18th 2022.
This follows the release of previous tracks Lighthouse, Jeff Goldblum and Blood In The Yolk.
Talking about the track Mattiel said:I’m not sure what it will mean for listeners, I hope it’s interpreted in different ways by different people. But Cultural Criminal was written as a reminder to myself to question everything and to avoid the trappings of “thought police,” so to speak. And just to maintain my focus and attention span during a time when we’re all being assaulted by media and advertising at any given moment. I’d just say… I prefer to think for myself and surround myself with people who may see the world differently than I do. Getting out of the echo chamber, you know”
Georgia Gothic, , was shaped in the quiet seclusion of a woodland cabin in the north of the Atlanta duo’s mother-state; “Some faraway place that just Jonah and I could go where there would be no distractions, nothing else going on, and we could turn everything off and only focus on writing songs”, reflects Brown. Where 2017’s self-titled debut and its 2019 follow-up Satis Factory were written with what Swilley refers to as a “hands-off” approach — he arranging the music and Brown the lyrics and vocals, the two working largely separately — the making of Georgia Gothicwas, for the first time, a truly collaborative undertaking. “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 continues. “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.”
Cultivated by time spent together on the road touring the first two albums, it is this newfound sense of intimacy between Mattiel’s members that enabled the writing of Georgia Gothic not as two separate musicians, but rather as one creative entity. The album remained within the four walls of Brown and Swilley’s private world for much of its evolution — with recording taking place in a simple studio set up by the pair in the borrowed room of a dialysis centre, Swilley in the producer’s seat — until, nearing completion, it was transferred into the trusted hands of the Grammy-award-winning John Congleton (whose extensive list of credits includes artists as diverse as Angel Olsen, Earl Sweatshirt, Erykah Badu and Sleater Kinney) for mixing.
Mattiel have announced a run of UK and European shows in May of this year. The full list of shows is as follows:
03.05.22 – Hull Central Library – HULL
05.05.22 – Hare & Hounds – BIRMINGHAM
07.05.22 – Lafayette – LONDON
08.05.22 – The Fleece – BRISTOL
09.05.22 – The Brudenell Social Club – LEEDS
10.05.22 – Oran Mor – GLASGOW
12.05.22 – Whelan’s – DUBLIN
13.05.22 – Gorilla – MANCHESTER
14.05.22 – The Great Escape – BRIGHTON
16.05.22 – Aeroneff – LILLE
18.05.22 – Maroquinerie – PARIS
19.05.22 – TRIX – ANTWERP
21.05.22 – Lido – BERLIN
22.05.22 – Loppen – COPENHAGEN
23.05.22 – Nochtspeicher – HAMBURG
24.05.22 – Paradiso Noord – AMSTERDAM
25.05.22 – Doornroosje – NIJMEGEN
26.05.22 – Dauwpop Festival – HELLENDOORN
29.05.22 – Karnhalle – MUNICH
04.06.22 – Art Rock Festival – SAINT BRIEUC, FR
11.06.22 – Kite Festival – KIRTLINGTON, OXFO