MATT LOVELL’S NEW SINGLE "BE FREE" PREMIERES
VIA GLIDE MAGAZINE
DEBUT LP NOBODY CRIES TODAY OUT JUNE 5TH
PHOTO: JASON LEE DENTON
Nashville-based artist Matt Lovell has unveiled “Be Free,” a timely new single from his debut album, Nobody Cries Today, out on June 5th. “Lovell grew up learning to sing three-part harmonies in a household steeped in soul...Those roots anchor the tracks on his forthcoming LP,” says Glide Magazine in its premiere. “Be Free,” which Lovell says reminds him of his upbringing, was inspired by the Aretha Franklin-style gospel heard in his youth, music he revisited during the writing and recording process. “Subdued organ and a laid-back rhythm section provide a dreamy, vintage-washed landscape for Lovell’s soulful, velvety vocals,” Glide Magazine adds. “Spendin’ all our days/Trying to make it to the sun/But I don’t wanna go/Unless there’s room for everyone…Somebody tell me when we gon’ be free,” he implores, a question the entire world seems to be asking today – when will we be free of bigotry, free of racism, free of classism, and even free from the sickness currently ravaging our planet?”
LISTEN: “BE FREE”
“Be Free,” the third selection from Lovell’s album, follows the release of “Alligator Lilly,” a playful allegory of lost innocence accompanied by a quirky, Wes Anderson-style video filmed at the Gulf Of Mexico. PopDust said “Alligator Lilly” was “full of eye-candy visuals and striking, hypnotic imagery.” Lead single “90 Proof” was written during attempts to let go of a relationship that had ended. “Lovell knows how to tap into a part of himself that can bring the emotions of ’90 Proof’ to the surface and doing so is all the more honorable, knowing the story he’s trying to tell, isn’t a made up screenplay,” said American Songwriter. “It’s one man being willing to revisit challenging parts of his life and do so with performative solemnity and grace.”
WATCH: “ALLIGATOR LILLY”
WATCH: “90 PROOF”
All but one of the album’s songs were recorded in 2016 - just months before Lovell nearly lost his life. On January 20, 2017, he was shot in the chest by a sixteen-year-old who attempted to steal his car. Miraculously, he lived. “This moment created a new center of gravity and re-ordered my understanding of everything I’ve experienced in this lifetime,” he explains. “Many people who experience acute trauma go through somewhat of a euphoric period immediately after the incident occurs, and this was definitely my experience. The level of peace I felt was something I had never touched before. I wrote profusely, I gardened, I brought new life and vigor to my musical ventures, and I made peace with complicated friendships. More than anything, I found a level of great self-acceptance and this created space for me to begin to learn how to live this life.”
This era ended with the abrupt onset of PTSD, causing the most difficult time Lovell had ever faced. He began to question everything and struggled to find a way to articulate the horrors he was experiencing. Now, on the other side of recovery, Lovell is excited to sing these songs again for anyone who will listen. “In these years of writing and recording, I have gathered quite a wild palette of paints,” he says. “In a way, Nobody Cries Today has actually been my teacher. As I have written these songs, each of them has been like a tiny rowboat to get me from one day to the next. They have witnessed me in the years that I was in the throes of trying to find acceptance for myself and for the world I’m living in. As a gay man of Southern origin, this proved to be a tall order. These songs have also helped me to explore things like zest for life, discontent, hunger, truth, and hope,” he continues. “Nobody Cries Today contains every bit of earnestness, desire, and love that I have to give.”
CONNECT WITH MATT LOVELL: