ACCLAIMED CALIFORNIA SINGER-SONGWRITER MATT COSTA
RELEASES BRAND NEW ALBUM, YELLOW COAT, TODAY
SPECIAL YELLOW COAT LIVESTREAM EVENT TO TAKE PLACE TONIGHT,
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 AT 9 P.M. EST / 6 P.M. PST WITH BUNDLED
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW
ALBUM SINGLES, “AVENAL” AND “SLOW,” RECENTLY FEATURED
AS PART OF NPR MUSIC’S “NEW MUSIC FRIDAY”
SOULFUL FOLK & TIMELESS POP-INSPIRED LP PRODUCED BY
ALEX NEWPORT OUT NOW VIA DANGERBIRD RECORDS
“Costa has always had a knack for sweet, never saccharine melodies and it’s that talent, combined with his innocent boyish vocals, that makes even the saddest moments of his new
effort go down easy.” – American Songwriter
“Despite its personal roots, the music’s emotions and connotations feel universal in scope.” –Newsweek
Dangerbird Records and acclaimed California singer-songwriter Matt Costa are excited to announce the release of his brand new full-length album, Yellow Coat. 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, the album is the product of Costa penning letters to himself about the end of a relationship that had lasted almost a decade. Purchase and stream Yellow Coat on all platforms HERE. Costa had the following to share about the new album:
“My songs have always been something that transcends a feeling into something that is healing.
I hope listeners and fans find these songs as personal and honest as they are to me.”
To celebrate the release of the album, Costa will be performing a special livestream concert tonight, Friday, September 11, from his home in Laguna Beach, CA. Tickets are bundled with pre-orders of Yellow Coat on Vinyl or CD, and the private link to the stream will be delivered prior to the event which will take place at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PST. Information on concert ticketing for the stream can be found via Dangerbird HERE.
Yellow Coat cover art
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 – 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.
Watch the music videos Costa created for the album with collaborator
Minh Pham (“Avenal,” “Jet Black Lake,” “Last Love Song,” “Slow”) HERE
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 lead single “Avenal” to the snappy fatalism of “Slow,” the album 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.
