Matt Maltese is a British-Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist who drew inspiration from modern indie pop music and the American crooner classics like Frank Sinatra to create his dreamy chamber pop sound. His lyrics are open and honest, and his voice serves them to you on a deep velveteen pillow.
Growing up in England, Matt spent his teen years buying and selling vinyl online. After a terrible heartbreak, he moved to Camden and began writing songs he honestly hoped would win back his ex-girlfriend. The songs…didn’t win her back…but they did pique the interest of producers and agents in the area who started Matt on the journey of becoming a full-time musician.
Four successful full-length albums later, the most recent of which “Driving Just to Drive” was just released on April 28th, Matt Maltese opened Shaky Knees 2023 by playing the very first set on the main stage to 40,000 festival goers. There couldn’t have been a better first act. Matt was gentle and endearing. His voice rang beautifully throughout the festival grounds and he and his backing band played excellently together. This was particularly surprising later when in his interview, Matt revealed that he had only met the backing band two days earlier. Apparently, Matt’s usual backing band hadn’t been able to attend the festival as one of them was stuck in England with visa complications and another was accepted onto the boygenius tour.
After his set, Matt met up with WUTC’s own Haley Solomon for a wonderful and heartfelt conversation about his journey to becoming a touring musician, his relationship with songwriting, and his ideal writing environment. This was one of Haley’s favorite interviews of the weekend - "Matt was such a humble and kind person." He earnestly engaged in conversation and together, they had a truly lovely chat…we hope you like it as much as they did.
