Singer-songwriter with a hip-hop twist, Mat Kearney will perform March 18, bringing musical innovation through a unique melding of genres to the Orpheum Theater. He is on tour promoting his most recent album JUST KIDS which breaks from the traditional recording process; while digging into the past and reminiscing on Kearney’s journey growing up in Oregon.
Mimicking the eclectic sound of his album, Kearney hopes to veer from cookie-cutter classifications in other aspect of his music career. He intends to do so by executing shows that differ from anything he has ever done, balancing production and performing talent in an intimate setting in order to truly embody the nostalgic, yet inventive feel of his record.
“I hope it’s encouraging to people. It’s my story. It’s very personal. I wrote a lot of songs about my journey and my story — kind of grappling with grace and redemption, and your dreams. I think it’s kind of for people out there chasing something — chasing a dream,” he said.
The album is not only progressive as a finished product, but is progressive in it’s making. Rather than recording in a studio, Kearney packed his laptop and equipment and began cutting the tracks for this album on his last tour — enabling him to become the principle producer of his new album.
“It’s a new era, you don’t need a big studio, or a big budget, anyone with a laptop can make a record,” Kearney said. “When you’re by yourself, you’ll maybe sample something from YouTube or make a weird sound with like a chair in the corner. It made for a much more unique sounding record.”
Recording on the road did not only give Kearney ample time to experiment with production and create beats for the album, but it provided a further muse for the lyric writing aspect. In the past, his biggest songs were ones he wrote about traveling and heading somewhere like “Nothing Left to Lose” and “Ships in the Night.”
“Ships in the Night” was a catalyst for JUST KIDS, not only in terms of theme, but also in its inventive mix of genres.
“For me, every album has a song that’s a window in to the next record. I felt like ‘Ships in the Night’ was really a song, just in what it was, it was kind of spoken word, it was kind of hip-hop, it was kind of singer-songwriter. I wanted to explore that kind of stuff even more,” Kearney said.
Kearney’s musical exploration is not limited to the tracks on the album, but extends into his music videos and his most recent tour performances.
In fact, this past November, Kearney released a music video for the single off JUST KIDS, entitled “Heartbeat.” It has a light-hearted pop feel, serving as a means of balancing out the serious lyrical content of the rest of his record.
Despite that, Kearney describes “Heartbeat” as the “most overtly pop tune he has written in his life.” However, the video for the song broke free from the constraints of typical pop music videos because it used a drone to film the entire thing in one take, rather than big budget equipment or a Hollywood crew.
“I was obsessed with doing a one take drone video. I wanted to try it,” Kearney said. “It was a lot of work to film and coordinate, but you can get some crazy Hollywood production value but with one little flying object.”
Kearney affirms that audiences can expect to experience musical eclecticism and out-of-the-box thinking — that went into both his new album and video — at his live tour shows. He distinguishes them from anything he has done on past tours, as well as from general singer-songwriter performances, which Kearney deems plain and “boring.”
“It’s going to be fun and intimate. It’s the best show we’ve ever put on. So if people have already seen a show or are considering going, they’ll be pleasantly surprised with this one. Madison is like my favorite town ever in the country. So I’m looking forward to being there with you guys.”
