Matthew Connor: “An old-fashioned crooner with a dark, modern twist”
In this week’s Thursday exclusive, opera singer and ‘crooner nouveau’ Matthew Connor serves up a melancholic tale of unrequited love
his week’s Thursday track exclusive is a slice of melancholic, operatic pop courtesy of Matthew Connor, a Boston, Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter who’s a veteran of synth-pop outfit Provocateur, and whose Bandcamp page bills him as “an old-fashioned crooner with a dark, modern edge.”
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Connor grew up in Virginia, where he studied guitar, clarinet and piano. He started writing songs and mailing out demos to record labels at the age of 12, then went on to study opera at the prestigious University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Despite finding work after graduation in a number of touring opera productions, however, Connor realised that his heart lay in writing and performing his own music. A move to Boston followed, where he joined the aforesaid Provocateur, releasing one album, Bad Blood And Brushfire, in 2010. Since then, he has struck out on his own. His solo discography to date consists of two EPs, Ghost Town and Denouement, and an album, Farewell Motel, which came out in October.
Today, Songwriting presents the world premiere of the video to Limestone And Yew, a track taken from Farewell Motel. Of the song itself, Connor says: “I wrote Limestone And Yew when I was living alone, spending too many late nights drinking wine and staring at the walls. One night I ventured out to a lousy bar and happened to meet this cute guy. We liked all of the same Italian horror movies, and he laughed at all of my jokes, and I guess when you’re young those sorts of things seem really meaningful and important. When I finally worked up the nerve to ask him out, he said that he just didn’t find me attractive. That was that. After a few more lonely late nights (and bottles of wine), I wrote this song.”
We never thought we’d use the phrase ‘Leonard Cohen meets the Pet Shop Boys’, but that’s the first description of Limestone And Yew that springs to mind! But as ever, you can make your own mind up…
Like what you hear? Then find Matthew Connor on Bandcamp (where you can buy the album), Soundcloud, Facebook and Twitter, or at his own website
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very powerful music and a powerful video to match!