“a brilliant folk-pop exploration of human relationships, potent emotions, and the push and pull of a life at war.” — Mitch Mosk, Atwood Magazine
FOR RELEASE JUNE 29, 2020
PHILADELPHIA (June 17, 2020) – Maps & His Mothball Fleet announces the release of the yacht rock single “Coastal Living” on June 29. The sun-drenched boy-girl harmonies flirt at summer romance within a melodic haze. “Coastal Living” is the first single off the upcoming album, GULF, due out on August 21 on Azteca Records.
Matt Wanamaker, the heart behind Maps & His Mothball Fleet wrote and recorded the vocals, percussion, and some acoustic guitar for a number of songs on a combination of his phone and handheld tape dictation while working overseas in Afghanistan in 2013. When he went back to sea again in 2018 he wrote over 50 more songs. “Coastal Living” is a warm sea salt kissed single born from those demos. Hayley Richardson joins Wanamaker in a bright call-and-response harmony telling the story of a beach hermit surprised with a love note from a lost love, urging him to take a risk and pursue her. Wanamaker paints a picture from a musical pallet shaded in sunset hues.
As the world tiptoes into a post-pandemic way of life, feelings of anxiety and hesitation are amplified by distance from family and friends. Wanamaker experienced all of these emotions in international isolation. While feelings of isolation might not be unfamiliar for those in the military, the feeling of trying to reconnect afterward is. He explains, “The album describes the feeling of physical separation I had while away and the distance that I was trying to deal with upon coming home.” The album is called GULF not only because it was written along the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf, but to describe that tangible separation and the ravine of emotional distance that come along with it.
The songs on GULF remain centered on a particular lo-fi aesthetic, prompted by the time and place for which it was recorded as much as by when it was embellished. These homespun nuances become an honest first-person account hidden by the melodies and stories that Wanamaker managed to produce all alone at night…once again adrift at sea.
GULF Track Listing
- The Pocono Islands
- Bathroom Sink
- Roman Candle
- Moves
- Coastal living
- Horses Are Hard to Draw
- An Emotional Affair
- Visit Mississippi
- Emma Jayne
- I Wanna Know Girls
- All The Lifeguards Known
- Somesylvania
About Maps & His Mothball Fleet
Maps & His Mothball Fleet is the musical moniker of Philadelphia musician Matt Wanamaker. After being deployed to Afghanistan in 2013 and again to the Gulf of Mexico in 2018, he wrote and recorded the rough demos of 50 songs to send back and forth home to musician friends. He released Fighting Season in 2016 on Azteca Records and recorded with the help of Scott Herzog (Dead Milkmen, Disco Biscuits) and Josh Ascalon (Mass Gothic, Chairlift). The upcoming album GULF is due out on Azteca Records later this year. Wanamaker has performed at the Kennedy Center, and the legendary CBGB’s as well as bars all the way from Glasgow, Scotland, to Austin, Texas.
Praise for Maps & His Mothball Fleet
“‘Trust The Teahouse’- a rich and melodic pop composition with confident vocals and lush score.” —Diamond Deposits
“‘Trust The Teahouse’ is a must listen for fans of a Dear Catastrophe Waitress-era Belle & Sebastian.” —Magnet
“Fighting Season is a brilliant folk-pop exploration of human relationships, potent emotions, and the push and pull of a life at war.” —Atwood Magazine
