The Singles Bar: Mathew V, ‘Broken’

Welcome to The Singles Bar, a review series focused on new single and song releases.

Think back to your last heartbreak. Like most people, you probably didn’t even see it coming. Your heart was no longer this life-affirming organ throbbing in your chest. It had been unceremoniously ripped from your now-broken ribcage and sacrificed to the gods, blood curdling on the sidewalk underneath the sharp, dazzling rays of the sun, which was stuck at high-noon. There was no redemption to be found. Gasping for breath, clawing at the enlarged hole dripping and aching at your soul’s center, you pulled out that bottle of pinot noir you’d been saving for a special occasion, a cozy night in with the person you thought was your soulmate, you hunker down in the bathroom and let the tears flow. You’re drunk; and his memory is brandished on your brain, and his face is the last thing you see before you succumb to the poison. You awaken with a jolt early the next morning, grey light cutting into your eyelids, and reality washes over you all over again. Rinse and repeat.

But that vicious, self-inflicted cycle had to occur before you could find yourself. That’s what pop upstart Mathew V underwent in his own journey. He didn’t have anyone to guide him, but he proved his mettle, pulling himself back off the soiled tile floor, looked himself in the mirror and remembered his identity. He depicts his triumphant release from heartache with “Broken,” a heavenly potion of candied dance-club euphoria. “My heart’s no longer breaking / And my ground, it won’t be shaking,” he whispers into a raging sea of rippling handclaps before vocal distortion pounds outward. “Not broken anymore,” he chants, cementing the song’s anthemic embroidery.

“Broken” samples Mathew V’s long-awaited full-length album, titled The Fifth, which developed during a time of healing and self-discovery. “I’ve had a pretty frickin’ amazing year which gave me some glue to put all of the pieces back together,” he says, noting the new tune’s intent as a branching off point, “sonically and lyrically, from the sad songs I’ve made in the past.”

The Fifth is set to drop in March on 604 Records.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

Listen below:

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