Matthew McNeal’s ‘Weekend’ hits you as perfect drive-time fodder, and for good reason. Though the tune was born out of McNeal jamming with his long-time drummer Andre Black, it was only after he listened back to the off-the-cuff lyrics he had laid down that McNeal realised what the song was about. “It hit me that I was speaking my own truth without knowing it – the song is essentially about the three years we’ve spent touring and working our asses off to get the release of this new record,” he told us. Fittingly, McNeal was talking to us from the road, having spent the weekend playing gigs across South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama as the clock ticks down to the release of his new album Good Luck this Friday. Part of that AM radio feel perhaps comes from producer Ted Young (Kurt Vile) while McNeal and Black teamed up with Israel Nash and his band to record the album at Nash’s Plum Creek Sound studio in Texas. The result is a groove-filled record of sweeping Americana. “We like the idea of being able to toy with all sorts of sounds, vibes, and genres to make music that is uniquely ours,” McNeal said. “To be honest, hearing that groove makes me wanna get up and have a good time, so we couldn’t help but to try and bring that fun to the studio. The content just came as a natural flow.”
Good Luck is out on February 16 via the Matte Black Sound Company.