Project Description
Similar Artists: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Radio Dept., Freedom Fry
Matt Wanamaker went back to sea.
Following the release of 2016’s critically-acclaimed Fighting Season, a dusty collection of country-tinged pop songs recorded on a handheld tape machine in Afghanistan, the frontman for Maps & His Mothball Fleet headed overseas again on his second humanitarian aid mission. This time, posted on the coast of the Persian Gulf after a few months preparing along the Gulf of Mexico, he turned another year of isolation into another batch of new songs. The tracks that would become Gulf draw inspiration from those disparate regions while staying rooted in classic pop structures, this time more consciously relatable than the previous effort.
In our current, anxious times of quarantine and lockdowns, what’s more relatable than isolation, the gulf we feel between each other and the lives we knew?
News
RELEASES
“Coastal Living”
Release Date: June 29, 2020
Record Label: Azteca Records
“a brilliant folk-pop exploration of human relationships, potent emotions, and the push and pull of a life at war.” — Atwood Magazine
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.
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Visit Mississippi
Release Date: August 10, 2020
Due out August 10, the new single from Maps & His Mothball Fleet permeates an eerie sense of impermanence lifting from the gulf coast in the middle of the night. The southern gothic guitar pop melodies of “Visit Mississippi” encapsulate the feelings of living alone during a long distance relationship through a haunted swampy hymnal. It is the second single off the upcoming album, GULF, due out on August 21 on Azteca Records.
Matt Wanamaker was struck by the muse of inspiration while wandering around the streets of Gulfport, Mississippi, toiling with the unresolved issues of a fleeting love. Drawing from the regional heritage and architectural aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he found himself playing with a much darker type of melodic pop style. The single captures a sweltering sticky bayou heat by utilizing meandering guitar leads that reach past the height of July. Along with a thin layer of acoustic melody and the backbeat of a church organ, Wanamaker adds some psychedelic flourishes to amplify the unsettled yet aromatic mood.
Bio
Matt Wanamaker went back to sea.
Following the release of 2016’s critically-acclaimed Fighting Season, a dusty collection of country-tinged pop songs recorded on a handheld tape machine in Afghanistan, the frontman for Maps & His Mothball Fleet headed overseas again on his second humanitarian aid mission. This time, posted on the coast of the Persian Gulf after a few months preparing along the Gulf of Mexico, he turned another year of isolation into another batch of new songs. The tracks that would become Gulf draw inspiration from those disparate regions while staying rooted in classic pop structures, this time more consciously relatable than the previous effort.
In our current, anxious times of quarantine and lockdowns, what's more relatable than isolation, the gulf we feel between each other and the lives we knew?
“Fighting Season is a brilliant folk-pop exploration of human relationships, potent emotions, and the push and pull of a life at war.”
"One to watch"