British songwriter Matthew And The Atlas has announced his new album ‘This Place We Live’ will arrive on October 13th via Communion Records. The news is accompanied by new music in the form of ‘Nineteen’, a beautifully timeless track that touches on the freedom of youth, opportunity, fatherhood and reflection, as well as an extensive 30 date tour across the UK and Europe through October and November.

His first full-length release since 2019’s ‘Morning Dancer’, for Matt Hegarty (AKA Matthew And The Atlas), ‘This Place We Live’ finds him embracing a bravely direct approach to songwriting, resulting in a striking collection of deeply personal songs; an introspective snapshot of a man reckoning with himself and the world at a certain stage of life, and all the gravitas that comes with it. For the first time on ‘This Place We Live’ Hegarty recorded and produced himself, working out of the home studio he built pre-pandemic. This approach gave him the time and space to evolve the songwriting and production identity over an almost two year period, before bringing in longtime collaborator Ali Chant (Yard Act, Katy J Pearson, Dry Cleaning) on additional production and mixing duties.

Dripping with nostalgia, new single ‘Nineteen’ finds Matt revisiting his late teens / early twenties and the sense of infinite possibility and freedom of that particular time in life.

Lush warbling pads, programmed drums and arpeggiated synths create a beautiful launchpad for Hegarty’s arresting vocal as he delivers reflections on youthful conversations with a friend as they poured over the music of artists like Nirvana, Lemonheads and Elliot Smith and dreamed of escape, touring and America.

Hegarty’s fourth Matthew And The Atlas album, ‘This Place We Live’ marks a welcome return to Communion Records, a move that brings him full circle as the first ever signing to the acclaimed label with his 2010 debut ‘To The North’ EP.

Matthew And The Atlas will tour ‘This Place We Live’ across the UK & Europe in October and November including dates at London’s Milton Court, Berlin’s Columbia Theatre and Pop-up Du Label in Paris. Tickets for the dates will go on-sale 10AM, Friday 26th May

Matt Hegarty on ‘Nineteen’:

“I wrote ‚Nineteen‘ during a period when I was making music but struggling to focus on a clear direction to take it in, and I began to feel like I was losing my way creatively. This led me to reminiscing on how I felt about music when I was younger. I used to run an off-licence in my early twenties and a friend of mine would always drop by. We would stand out at the front of the shop, talking about bands we loved from America, what it would be like to tour there and if we’d ever be able to do music full time. The shop was in a little Hampshire town, next to a railway line which seemed very far away from that world, but it all seemed possible still. ‚Nineteen‘ is trying to recapture that feeling of excitement and possibility I had back then when we were kids.”

Matt Hegarty on ‘This Place We Live’: