Matt Tarka – Salem (2025)
Earlier this year, we came across US-based singer-songwriter Matt Tarka with his boundary-breaking melodies; inimitable, undefinable, possibly described as “genre-fluid” if we have to give it some sort of tag. Gracing our pages with his single, ‘Beginnings’, we were introduced to one of his first releases since 2021 – the first being ‘Back of an Envelope’ – and were intrigued from the outset. Today, we take another look at Tarka’s discography with the most recent release, ‘Salem’.
Following the well-received ‘Back of an Envelope’ and ‘Beginnings’, ‘Salem’ is a new track that celebrates contemporary existence, but is rooted in reflections of yesteryear. Emotionally vulnerable, ‘Salem’ unpicks the complexities of challenging situations – kind of like a salve tending a wound before placing gauze and a plaster on. However, the single isn’t a healing touch entirely, Tarka takes all of the grit, challenge and struggles for all to see. Tarka explains:
“’Salem’ is this sort of hypnotic song that’s consistently been in my set list since 2013, and a bit of an outlier compared to what’s in my current discography. During that period, I suffered a nasty concussion in a soccer match and doctors recommended that I keep the lights in my apartment off or dim at all times… ‘Salem’ is meant to depict how my head was feeling during recovery. Confused, uncertain, and out of whack compared to what was happening in the world around me.”
Unlike the indie-folk stylings of ‘Beginnings’, which could fall alongside Paul Simon on a folk playlist, ‘Salem’ ups the tempo with a toe-tapping weave of bold drums, soaring guitars, and percussion twinkling in the background. Yet, while there is a vintage rock groove flooding across the melody, light-hearted shimmers of folk twinkle in the back like a fairy peeping from the background, teetering on the brink of breaking out and jumping to the fore. For me, however, it is not the arrangement that captures my attention; rather, it is Tarka’s obscure vocals anchoring you in the kaleidoscopic swirl of sound.
Find out more about Matt Tarka on his official website, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, BlueSky and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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