Dangerbird Records and acclaimed California singer-songwriter Matt Costa are pleased to present “Slow,” the latest track to be lifted from the Friday, September 11 release of his brand new full-length album, Yellow Coat (pre-order/pre-save). With its snappy bass and doo-wop-inspired backing vocals, the elegant “Slow” feels like a song that could have been plucked from a Copacabana scene in Goodfellas. Watch the music video for “Slow” directed by Costa’s visual collaborator Minh Pham on YouTube HERE and stream the song on all platforms HERE.
“I’ve heard it’s not what happens in dreams but how you feel about them. Some you don’t
want to let go and you hope the light of day comes slow.” – Matt Costa
Produced by Alex Newport, Yellow Coat is a masterpiece of heartbreak, equal parts lost Sixties AM radio hits, folk-pop beauty and dark night of the soul music. Taking inspiration from Van Gogh’s Dear Theo along with John Steinbeck’s A Life in Letters, and stamped with the honesty and intimacy of something not meant to be heard, Yellow Coat is the product of Costa penning letters to himself about the end of a relationship that had lasted almost a decade.
Photo credit: Minh Pham
As his second LP for Dangerbird Records and the follow-up to his well-received concept record Santa Rosa Fangs – an album that revealed similar storytelling qualities present in the work of other like-minded American songwriters such as Kurt Vile and Damien Jurado – the forthcoming Yellow Coat channels Costa’s raw emotion into a 12-track collection of hooky love songs, most of them awash in strings, Mellotron, harmonies and groove.
At the time that Costa started writing, he had stripped things down considerably, not only emotionally but in terms of his surroundings. He had moved into a Laguna Beach studio apartment with just the bare minimum of furniture and instruments. Instead of a bedside table, a Wurlitzer Sideman drum machine stands.
After connecting with notable producer Alex Newport (Death Cab for Cutie, At the Drive-In), the songs of Yellow Coat took shape with Costa enlisting the help of touring musicians and friends from afar. From the insinuating acoustic riffs and lo-fi beats of the album’s lead single “Avenal” to the snappy fatalism of “Slow,” Yellow Coat is brimming with bittersweet narratives of love’s power to both soothe and devastate.
Life does go on, however. The album ends with the last song Costa wrote for it, “So I Say Goodbye,” which provides a sense of closure, its piano-driven tunefulness feeling both uplifting and melancholic. And while Yellow Coat may have started as an album about heartbreak, its sense of sadness, continued hope and perseverance also feels completely universal right now. “My songs have always been something that transcends a feeling into something that is healing,” Costa adds. “I hope listeners and fans find these songs as personal and honest as they are to me.”
