MATTHEW YOUNG

UNVEILS

NEW SINGLE & VIDEO

Back on the radar, shortly over a year after his last release, is New Zealand’s Matthew Young. The elusive Auckland-based artist unveils his arresting new video and single, “Collect”, as premiered on triple j’s Good Nights & Oyster.

Seductive and futuristic, “Collect” layers crooked R&B beats with core-splitting vocals and pointed melodies. The accompanying visuals bathe Young in shades of lamplight and fluorescents atop a desolate phone booth, in an otherwise blacked out world. Young’s impulsive, sublime production breeds a new wave of nostalgic R&B and soul that is simultaneously original – leaving listeners wondering, where has this golden talent been hiding?

For many, Matthew Young seemed to appear out of nowhere. His 2015 debut offering “Lean Close” surfaced on Soundcloud with no biography or visuals, leaving Young a complete mystery. Despite his ambiguous nature, Young’s next output, a debut EP Dive quickly found a pedestal on international music titles including Hilly Dilly, Urban Outfitters and Sniffers, while local tastemakers like i-D and Project U also paid attention. Dive’s contemporary sound was both confident and emotion-filled, paving the way for “Collect” which sees Young take the production reigns and Josh Fountain (Leisure, Maala) lay on the finishing touches to create his most enthralling release yet.

After taking some time out – in what Young describes as a blurry and difficult 2016 – the vivid songwriter continued to make musical progress, and now shares the first fruit from his moments spent out of view. We’re naming “Collect” one of the year’s finest harvests – a song to propel this talented New Zealand artist towards the spotlight.