Matthew and the Atlas Is True to Form in New Single 'Elijah'

Matthew and the Atlas is one of those bands that gets into your soul. I still remember the very first time I heard a MATA song—'Within the Rose', from 2010's To the North EP. There are few songs that have affected me so strongly, given me the feeling that it's tapping into something innate and visceral. Instantly, I was hooked. 

The band, AKA Matthew Hegarty, has gone through some changes over the years, although it's never lost that straight-from-the-earth spirit. 2014 saw the release of full-length album Other Rivers, and although it's a lovely LP, it felt more produced than previous works. Single 'Pale Sun Rose', for example, is robust, with electric guitar and synth mingling with Hegarty's gravelly vocals. It's beautiful, no question, but it's a departure from the band's rustic, unplugged sound of yore. 

I was thrilled last week to hear the first new song since Other Rivers, 'Elijah' (above). I would have been anyway, of course; but the track is a perfect hybrid between MATA's early simplicity and later polish. When I listened to it for the first time, I couldn't help but think: "I didn't even know how much I missed this."

If 'Elijah' is any indication of music to come, I think we're about to see the golden days of Matthew and the Atlas. Grab a ticket to MATA's one-off London show at the Pickle Factory in February—I would wager that bigger things are on the way, and you should catch this band now.