Watch: Live at The Carleton with Matt Steele

Halifax Presents was Live at The Carleton in our continuing live online music series as we welcomed Matt Steele of Matt Steele and The Corvette Sunset on June 14.

Blending the hook-laden, soul-searching songwriting of Tom Petty with the frantic, frazzled, up-tempo power-pop of Elvis Costello, Matt retains just a tinge of his moon-soaked Kentucky roots.

Matt Steele and The Corvette Sunset’s 2018 debut album Half Girl Half Ghost is a surprisingly vulnerable and honest look at coping with emotional turmoil, and the doubt, anxiety and heartbreak that comes with navigating relationships.

Both Matt and the band’s next batch of songs will be a departure from what they have done before with the spark coming from Matt’s work as a recreation therapist.

“Recreation therapy is purposefully using leisure, play, and recreation to fulfill and improve one’s health and well-being,” he explains. “Half Girl Half Ghost is where I used songwriting to show my battle scars, even if the songs were largely fictional or amalgams of people I knew and the experiences I had. After that, I wanted to have fun, to experience songwriting as a puzzle to be solved with others. Even if some of the songs have sad meanings behind them, I want to find the catharsis or the fun in them.”

You can find out more about Matt Steele and The Corvette Sunset and their music at corvettesunset.com and Bandcamp. You can also follow them on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.