Matt Costa - California Waiting
Apart from feeling like knives were stabbing at his stomach every 30 seconds, Matt Costa was excellent, he said. He even went so far as to say that as respite from intense Californian sun, he likes the grey British clouds and drizzle.
On the day that I spoke to him, Matt was the featured artist on myspace. He was unaware of this and quite surprised when I informed him. He speaks with a typical Californian tone – “Oh wow. Man, hard question,” he exclaims when I ask him what sets his music apart from all the other acoustic singer songwriters popping up right, left and centre. He evades the question somewhat, telling me instead about how his music career begun, but his answer is interesting nonetheless. Matt is keen to stress that central to his music making is a simple human characteristic that we can develop when we’re young: that of involvement in any non-mainstream sub culture which, he says hones our creativity outside the normal thought process. For him, this was skateboarding.
I’ve no doubt that Matt loves what he does. He speaks extensively about the development of folk music and those he aspires to sound like; Donovan, The Kingston Trio and Bob Dylan are the examples he gives. He reads their books carefully to “soak up their experiences” and does his best to “try to sound like they do”.
If this last comes across as derogatory I don’t intend to be. As much as I’m slightly skeptical of Matt’s exacting approach to music creation, I like him. He chats easily and much to my surprise, I like some of his music too. Like many of you I’m becoming bored of this mainstream market: Jack Johnson was great. And then he became popular. Once in a while someone pops up that stands out from the crowd, I don’t think Matt Costa is one of these, yet there is something a little bit different about his songs.
‘Mr Pitiful’ is one which particularly struck me because of its shared name with the Otis Reading classic (this is the only resemblance, says Matt when asked. Though his last album also contained a song bearing another Otis title. Is there a trend emerging here?). Despite this somewhat audacious link, Matt seems down to earth and doesn’t hide his excitement when room service arrives with a full English breakfast.
Matt is a talented musician showing off creativity and producing upbeat, quirky tunes, albeit of the easy-listening nature. I don’t need to speak to him for long to realise he has the drive and enthusiasm to take this to the top. But will his music stand the test of time? I doubt it. Will he be successful? I believe so.
