Matthew James…
The cover art for Bad Suns’ 2014 debut album Language & Perspective
Matthew James is the first track of California-based alternative rock band Bad Suns, from their 2014 debut album, Language & Perspective. The song is an upbeat exploration for the search for meaning in life and the desire to shed stale routines in search for the joys of life. the song started life without a title, getting the name Matthew James as a placeholder while still a demo in 2013. Matthew James was a neighbor of the song’s writer and lead singer, Christo Bowman. The name stuck as the Demo was being shown around, with many liking the title’s unique feel.
Why this song is important to me…
The entirety of Language & Perspective is one of those albums that you buy because it sounded good on iTunes, then forget about for three years. For me, I first heard Bad Suns on Conan O’Brien’s iteration of The Tonight Show, on NBC in 2014. The band performed their song Cardiac Arrest, which I shazamed. I looked the album up on iTunes, listened to the audio sample, and bought the whole album. I then proceeded to listen to exactly none of the album for at least three years. The only reason I can attribute to the fact that I neglected this amazing album, is stupidity. For some reason, I had this weird impression that the music wasn’t good, even though I hadn’t actually listened to the album. Then, one day in 2018 another song from the album, Transpose, came up on shuffle. The song was amazing, so I listened to the entire album.
A part of me could say that Matthew James is my favorite song on the album, but that would be a lie. In truth, I love every single song on this album equally. I’ve listened to the entire album at least ten times, though some individual tracks have been played dozens of times. Each and every song, from We Move Like the Ocean, to Dancing On Quicksand, Salt,Transpose, Cardiac Arrest, and especially Matthew James, are all songs that I could and have listened to no matter my mood at the time. The entire album is one of my top five all-time favorite albums, and I chose Matthew James as the song to represent this amazing album. Check out Language & Perspective by Bad Suns, it’s just that good. Matthew James is perfect evidence of the greatness of this album!