Toronto based psych-pop artist Mawzy today shares details of his forthcoming debut album Long View. Set for release on April 10th, Long View is a departure from Mawzy aka Matt Cooke’s folkier Newfoundland roots which saw him nominated for MusicNL and ECMA awards. Along with details of the release, Mawzy also shares the second single and video “Better Man”.
Layering harmonies and lush synthesizers around the haunting refrain; “I want to be a better man to you”, “Better Man” was recorded with acclaimed producer Thom D’Arcy (The Sheepdogs, Yukon Blond). The stunning and heartfelt visual for the track was captured by Bee Pethick and Bryce Zimmerman.
Speaking on “Better Man” Cooke says, “It is a song about striving to do better for those you love. It was written during a tumultuous time in my relationship where my partner and I were having conversations around self-improvement and compromise for the betterment of our relationship. I drew on these conversations when writing the lyrics, recognizing my own shortcomings and declaring my intention to ‘do better’. Although the relationship made it through those ‘lost’ years, it recently came to end. In writing this song I learned that love is delicate and words need to be proven through action. Releasing this song is therapeutic; I’m releasing the love that Better Man was written about.
The Newfoundland term “mawzy” describes a“mawzy” day which begins before dawn. It’s a foggy early morning, the sunlight never rising above a bare simmer. Mawzy is the perfect word for Cooke’s psych-pop project which burbles with hazy vintage synths, misty vocals and a message of love and longing. Growing up in Newfoundland, Cooke cut his teeth in pentecostal church bands, jazz, and folk before packing up and leaving Atlantic Canada for Toronto where Mawzy was born.
You can hear that maritime fog transposed to the bright lights of the big city in Mawzy’s discography. Driving forward with a disco edge, bright guitars, vocals reverbed into the sky, Cooke’s musical project is alight with an eerie groove. It’s a canted pitch of supercharged pop urgency and nostalgic nigh-on crooning psychedelia mixed into a fog of lush analog synths that echo into oblivion. Emerging from the mist is Cooke himself, fading into view in bursts of light amidst the gloom. Mawzy is a distinct portrait of a constantly inventing artist who stretches over landscapes and warmly molds them into the size of a song.
Long View is set for release on April 10th.
