Matt Maltese Shares New Single “Florence”; Album ‘Driving Just To Drive’ Out  4/28; Playing Gov Ball, Lolla, & more!

London artist Matt Maltese has today shared the new track “Florence”, the final taste of the upcoming fourth album Driving Just To Drive – out April 28 via Nettwerk. Driving Just To Drive is the first major body of work from Matt Maltese since his acclaimed third album, Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow arrived in 2021.

Matt has now racked up half a billion streams across all platforms (with viral single “As The World Caves In” counting for 290 million of them) and currently has over 6.5 million monthly listeners. Matt’s audience also continues to grow on social media with 500,000 followers now on TikTok where global superstars like Doja Cat and BTS’ Kim Taehyung have become firm fans – the former even hosted an Instagram Live singalong of “Curl Up And Die.” Frank Ocean has also featured Matt’s single “Rom-Com Gone Wrong” on his Blonded Radio. Matt is credited as a songwriter on Jamie T’s 2022 #1 record All In Good Time, with Jamie naming him one of the UK’s best young songwriters in multiple press interviews around the album’s release. Matt has also recently co-written music with Joy Crookes and Celeste for their new records.

Speaking about “Florence”, Matt says: “This is a pretty old song that Josh [Scarbrow] convinced me to dig up from the grave and put on the album. I quite liked the idea of putting a song on the record that wasn’t really written at the same time as everything else. I’ve made a lot more peace with my greener, sincerer older songs that I wrote before I started making my first album, and songs like “Florence” that have a multi-year gap between writing and recording often make for more interesting versions than the ones you write and record in the moment.”

He continues: “I wrote it after seeing a show (not Florence and the Machine) and it was right at the precipice of anger and acceptance with loss, and with life changing a lot. It kind of came at a moment in my life before I became a lot more set on bringing humour and self-deprecation into music, and around my first album being put together, I had come to find it far too sincere and ‘sweet’. Now I often come back to these older teenage songs years later and think their earnestness was actually something to be proud of, rather than cringe or make fun of,  and I’m often trying to get closer to that, and still be funny sometimes (hopefully).”

Matt will be heading to the US this summer to perform at Shaky Knees festival in Atlanta Governor’s Ball in New York City, and Lollapalooza in Chicago. Previous singles “Museum,” “Mother,” and title track “Driving Just To Drive” have received plaudits from the likes of  Paste Magazine, Notion, The Line Of Best Fit, Clash, DIY, Dork, Yuck, and more.

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Everybody is searching for happiness – and although it might be impossible to find, Matt Maltese is getting closer. For his fourth album, in order to look forward the musician finally let himself look back to the past. Reflecting on a sense of place, the meaning of where you grew up and the secret to being able to just enjoy the moment, Driving Just To Drive finds Maltese at his most free. 

The album’s lush, almost cinematic sound in part comes from Maltese working with a producer for the first time in a while – a first-time producer at that, in Josh Scarbrow. It was only after thriving in a songwriting space, collaborating with Joy Crookes, Celeste, Etta Marcus and more, that Maltese better realised how he wanted to write for himself. “I’m bad at letting go to make someone else help me, but I’ve got better,” Maltese says. “Sharing those moments in real life with another person is just really nice. Josh hadn’t made an album before which I loved, and also working with someone my age ended up being really important.”

Driving Just To Drive finds Maltese at his most open, and settled, embracing new sounds but returning to the most organic version of himself he knows. He’s always wanted to find a way to make people laugh, but finds ways here to charm while somewhat letting his guard down. The result is something bittersweet and deeply, authentically emotional. 

See Matt Maltese live in 2023:

May 5 | Shaky Knees Festival, Atlanta, GA

May 26 | Lido Connect, Bangkok, Thailand

May 31 | Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane, Australia

Jun 2 | Northcote Social, Melbourne, Australia

Jun 3 | The Landsdowne Hotel, Sydney, Australia

Jun 9 | Governors Ball Festival. New York City, NY

Aug 3 | Lollapalooza Festival, Chicago, IL