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MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ SHARES NEW SONGS “VACATION” & “I LOVE MY BOY” TAKEN FROM NEW ALBUM “LIGHT’N UP” OUT MARCH 29th VIA DINE ALONE RECORDS

February 13, 2019
Sean Mathis

MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ 
SHARES NEW SONGS”VACATION” & “I LOVE MY BOY” AVAILABLE NOWNEW ALBUM, LIGHT’N UP, OUT IN THE UK MARCH 29th VIA DINE ALONE RECORDS
 TOURING EUROPE IN MARCH/APRIL, INCL. UK RELEASE SHOW AT THE ISLINGTON (LONDON)

Acclaimed Texas singer-songwriter Matthew Logan Vasquez (ex-frontman of The Delta Spirit) has released two new songs from his forthcoming third solo record, LIGHT’N UP, which arrives in the UK on March 29 via Dine Alone Records. “Vacation” b/w “I Love My Boy” got their premiere via Relix magazine and are now available now at all DSPs.
“‘Vacation’ is about certain ironies in my life,” says Vasquez. “First that I travel the world for work, and save all my money so that I can stay home. Also most of my relationships are best described as ‘weak ties.’ I’m fortunate to have lots of great friends living all over the place, but it’s hard to develop past our first experiences. This song makes me want to pick up the phone and call old tour pals.”

As for “I Love My Boy,” Vasquez says, “I was sitting in our home FaceTiming with my wife and son (who had gone ahead of me to Norway a couple weeks prior). I had to stay back and record this album before I’d lost access to my studio. On the call I was overwhelmed by sadness that they weren’t with me. Tears welled up in my eyes at the end of our call and I went straight over to the piano and wrote ‘I Love My Boy.'”
LIGHT’N UP’s release was announced last month by the hard-driving first single, “Trailer Park,” along with its b-side “Poor Kids.” “Trailer Park” premiered at Rolling Stone Country, alongside an official companion video directed by Michael Parks Randa (Deer Tick, Rick Ross, mewithoutYou) and streaming now at Vasquez’s official YouTube channel. Both songs are available now at all DSPs.

LIGHT’N UP captures Matthew Logan Vasquez amid a season of deep despair. The dynamic Texas singer-songwriter wrote nine introspective songs in solitude while separated from his family during the darkest part of winter after loneliness set in. The day after Christmas in 2017, Vasquez’s wife, and their son moved to Norway to be closer with her Dad, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. With a record to make and a tour planned, Vasquez had to stay behind. “If a record is the sum of a chapter in a person’s life, this is a yearbook for me. It’s who I was then. It’s what I was thinking and feeling – all the heartbreak and longing,” Vasquez says. “I usually don’t go this dark and put so many sad songs on a record.” Even the up-tempo tunes, “Ball Pit” and “Trailer Park” come packed with internal conflict that turns the LP’s vibe a full 180 from the hard-rocking intensity of Vasquez’s previous solo records, 2016’s SOLICITOR RETURNS and 2017’s DOES WHAT HE WANTS.  On “Poor Kids,” Vasquez reflects on defining struggles of his childhood – poverty, losing faith in religion and being sexually awakened too soon. His friends Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst of Shovels and Rope contribute haunting harmonies on the chorus. Wild Child singer Kelsey Wilson, a member of Vasquez’s brainchild super group Glorietta, and vocalist Taylor Nix (of Atlantis Aquarius) also contribute backing vocals to the LP. Judson Johnson, a longtime member of Vasquez’s touring band, handled drumming duties throughout while master multi-instrumentalist Spencer Garland (PR Newman, Black Pumas) added electric guitar on “Character Assassination” and played accordion on “I Love My Boy,” Vasquez’s lamentation on missing his son, Thor. LIGHT’N UP closes with “Oslo,” featuring angelic strings played by the Parkington Sisters backing Vasquez’s lyrical portrait of his struggle to come to terms with his new life in Norway and all he left behind in Texas. “This record is about a period in life we all go through,” Vasquez says. “There’s a season for everything, and for me this one was all about struggle, relationships and fear of change. If anyone is feeling the way I was feeling maybe these songs will be there for them.”

EU Dates with The Dead South

Mar/21 – London (UK) @ The Islington

Mar/26 – Bremen (DE) @ Kultuzentrum Lagerhaus 
Mar/27 – Amsterdam (NL) @ Melkweg 
Mar/28 – Eindhoven (NL) @ Effenaar 
Mar/29 – Utrecht (NL) @ TivoliVredenburg 
Mar/30 – Cologne (DE) @ Die Kantine 
Mar/31 – Sint Niklaas (BE) @ Casino 
Apr/01 – Wuppertal (DE) @ Live Club Barmen 
Apr/02 – Wiesbaden (DE) @ Schlachthof 
Apr/03 – Nürnberg (DE) @ K4 
Apr/04 – Stuttgart (DE) @ LKA Longhorn 
Apr/05 – Winterthur (CH) @ Salzhaus 
Apr/06 – Lausanne (CH) @ Les Docks 
Apr/07 – Munich (DE) @ Muffathalle 
Apr/08 – Vienna (AT) @ WUK 
Apr/09 – Vienna (AT) @ Flex 
Apr/11 – Paris (FR) @ Le Trianon
Apr/12 – Haarlem (NL) @ Roots Of Heaven Festival (at Patronaat)
Apr/14 – Venlo (NL) @ Down By The River 

Apr/15 – Berlin (DE) @ Astra Kulturhaus 
Apr/16 – Berlin (DE) @ Astra Kulturhaus

CONNECT WITH MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ:

MATTHEWLOGANVASQUEZ.COM

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