Matchbox Twenty’s first album in ten years

Posted by Sarah Christine Robinson on May 18, 2012 in Entertainment, Music, Other Musings | 1 comment

Releasing a first album must be difficult. Releasing the second and trying to live up to the hype of the first, must be even harder. But releasing a fifth album, after a long hiatus, knowing that your ever-loyal fans cannot wait to hear it, must be quite a challenge.

Yesterday, Matchbox Twenty announced their first album in ten years would be released on 4 September.

We are ready to announce the new record is called NORTH. Everywhere on Sept 4. Listen for the new single ‘She’s So Mean’ in the weeks ahead

— matchboxtwenty (@MatchboxTwenty) May 17, 2012

‘North’ will be their fifth album. In between Matchbox Twenty projects, lead singer Rob Thomas and guitarist Paul Doucette have worked on their own solo projects. Now though, Matchbox Twenty has to live up to the success of their last four albums and release a record that lives up to the hype.

Part of Matchbox Twenty’s long-lasting success, created in part by Rob Thomas’ truly extraordinary lyric-writing talent, is their ability to produce songs that their listeners connect with. As Rob Thomas describes in Matchbox Twenty concerts: ‘As you get older you realise that everybody’s a little bit f***** up, but that’s ok, because the enlightened people realize this, the people you feel sorry for are those who don’t realize this yet.’

It is these people – those that are ‘enlightened’ – that connect most with the band’s songs, and are those that have stayed with the band since their formation in 1995.

Thankfully for the fans, Matchbox Twenty have realised how much the new album will mean and have said: ‘It’s a real important record for us. We haven’t done anything in a long time. The older we get, the more we realise and appreciate the good fortune we have to do what we do at this level. Realistically, how many more times do we get? So we’re going to really make this record the one we want it to be.’

So, can Matchbox Twenty live up to the success of their last four albums (the last of which was a greatest hits record with four new songs) and produce an album that sounds both fresh but true to their own, original sound? Stay tuned for a review in September.