I’m in love again.

I like to check out music that artists I like talk about. So when Lamar Stockton started posting about a singer-songwriter I’d never heard of before, I clicked.  And listened. And after a few go-rounds with Austin’s Matt McCloskey‘s lyrics and raw voice, I was spellbound. Game over, done. I was going to tumble hard for this one.

I first downloaded his latest EP, The Hard Rains, which came out last December (You can pick this gem up for free right now on Noisetrade).  My first thought was “Like Ryan Adams, but more accessible.”  The more I listened, the more the lyrics spoke to me.  The absolute heart-wrencher – one of the saddest songs I have ever heard – is “Not Tonight.”  Funny how a song doesn’t have to sound sad to be sad.  The entire EP is that way, full of acoustic guitar goodness, haunting instrumentation, and carefully crafted, but simple lyrics that demand self-introspection. “What if your life wasn’t as hard as it is, if the things keeping you down didn’t exist?  What would you do?  What would you do?”

I got busy downloading everything else Matt had on iTunes:  2010’s Let It Burn, and 2009’s These Times Won’t Last.  And every song is as good as the one before, if not better.  I find myself wrapping myself up in these tunes, falling asleep to them, listening to them over and over in the car, passing the hours at work with them as the soundtrack.

And so here I find myself, in love with another artist.  And happily so.  Betcha a buck that if you give Matt’s music a listen, you will be, too.

More Matt McCloskey:  Web | Facebook | Twitter | The Hard Rains on iTunes