Matty & The Subtle Validation is releasing their debut EP Imperfect Songs for an Imperfect World. It’s a thoughtful, folksy collection that embraces nature and human connections. You can listen live at the EP release show November 6th at the 331 Club in Minneapolis, MN.
Please tell me about yourself and your music.
I come from a very musical family and I was fortunate enough to attend a performing arts middle and high school in Western NY state, which helped me become comfortable being in performance spaces. I spent a lot of time singing in choir and in theatre productions as a kid and teenager. My uncle is a talented clawhammer banjo player in the Boston area and he has always been a big influence for me as a musician (although I don’t have any banjo-playing talent or experience). My music is heavily influenced by performers who fall within the singer-songwriter realm, namely James Taylor, John Prine, Jim Croce, Brandi Carlile, to name a few. The songs I write tend to be about my lived experiences and I’m always trying to leave a window or thread for a listener to climb through or hang onto as a way to build that connection. I’m not sure if it works but that’s usually the goal.
Validate to Motivate strikes me in part because, until I was 10 years old, my family bounced from the Twin Cities to Chicago a lot. What drew you to moving to the Twin Cities?
I met my wife in college and we both moved to Chicago after graduation. The indie rock and roll band that I started in college (Buckman Page) with my longtime music collaborator, Marcus Lohrmann, also found itself in Chicago after college and the goal was to try and gig as much as possible. After ten years of doing that and then performing with a different alt folk band (Distant Brothers) followed by my wife and me getting married, we decided that our Chicago chapter was ready to come to a close, so we decided to move to the Twin Cities to be closer to my wife’s parents. I feel really lucky to have met so many great musicians since I really started taking writing and performing music seriously back in college and then into the Chicago music scene and that’s where I spent most of my time as an active musician and performer.
In both Sun Don’t Shine and All These Pleas, the weather (sun and rain) is featured. I’m wondering if that’s a strong source of inspiration for you?
I don’t remember how long it took for me to realize that the midwestern winter months really started having an impact on my mental health, but there are elements in some of the songs on the EP (as you mentioned, Sun Don’t Shine; All These Pleas) that speak to that experience and trying to understand how seasonal depression works and how to manage it. With “Sun Don’t Shine” in particular, not only did I realize as I was writing the song that I’ve really only lived in places that are known for providing a lot of overcast skies throughout the year (western NY state and parts of the midwest), it also became clear that as much as I would like to flip a switch or take a medication or exercise more or what it is, there are times and moments when you just have to be sad in the rain. That doesn’t mean that I won’t come out of that gloom and doom, but I think sometimes we forget that the quick-fix isn’t necessarily the best path forward. But that general idea also served as the inspiration for the album artwork.
Have you found differences or similarities in the music scenes in Chicago and the Twin Cities?
The Chicago music scene can feel pretty overwhelming. There’s a lot of talent but sometimes it feels like there is also just a lot of noise. As I have grown older and hopefully wiser, I’ve realized that as fun as it is to say that I’ve performed at Chicago venues like Double Door, Lincoln Hall, House of Blues, and the Metro, sometimes in retrospect it feels like those venues are relying on your satisfaction of just getting your name on the marquee, rather than your boldness of telling a talent buyer that your band is worth more than the small percentage of bar sales for the night. That isn’t something unique to Chicago, but I think it’s amplified (sorry) just from the music scene being so much larger. I think there are also differences in my own perspective just as a musician who is older and more mature than I was when I was actively performing in Chicago 15 years ago. Generally speaking, I have found the Twin Cities music scene to be pretty accessible (or at least accessible to someone who looks like I do) and supportive. I’m not performing here as often as I used to (that’s become harder with a full time job AND a young child) but when I do, it feels like people in the Twin Cities don’t take their opportunities to hear/see new music for granted as much. Maybe it’s my personal tastes at this stage in life but it didn’t take me long to see just how talented people in the Twin Cities are. We’re lucky to live in a place where not only is there an impressive pool of performers on both local and national levels, but some of them might be performing at a bar just down the street from you on a Sunday night.
Where can folks see you play?
I feel fortunate and very excited to get to perform at Morris, MN’s first Morris Folk Fest on Oct 24th. There are a few other performers who I already knew of and I’m really excited to get to share the stage with them. I’m performing at 331 Club on Nov 6th for my official EP release show along with my good friend Dave Blomquist (of The Hamm Sammies) on keys and I’m really excited for that as well. And I would say that one of my goals for the next year is to try and find some smaller, intimate performance spaces (think house shows) to add to my schedule in the Twin Cities. I think my general vibe works well for that kind of a space.
