In the modern musical landscape, it can be exceedingly difficult for any new musical acts to break through in the traditional infrastructure of the music industry.
This is precisely why an artist like Matthew Morgan feels so profound within the space. An openly queer artist who understands the importance of writing songs that allow everyone to be seen, Matthew’s music finds empathy and beauty in the unheralded elements of daily life. And now, Matthew is back with a brand new single and music video, “Right Back Down.”
“Right Back Down,” produced by Brian Skeel, was written by Morgan as a scathing statement on the cynical, unfulfilling disillusionment of working in a modern-day office setting. While Morgan’s previous album, Timepiece, served as a heartfelt and moving meditation on the trials and tribulations of trying to make a living as a musical artist throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, “Right Back Down” sees the singer/songwriter tackling the American capitalistic system through a different lens: the work-life balance of the average citizen.
In pursuing the idealized “American dream,” many people have sacrificed most of their lives to mind-numbingly mundane office work, and “Right Back Down” is a vindictive screed against this perceived normalcy. As Morgan said of the song, “It is a stark and sadly relatable portrayal of how many of us spend the bulk of our waking lives in the office.”
The accompanying Official Video for “Right Back Down” similarly tackles this subject head-on, with director Meshach Malley including numerous visual nods and homages to Mike Judge’s cult-classic 1999 film, Office Space. The video, as produced by Gentle Embers Media, sees Matthew having a bleak, bad day at an office job, culminating in him having a violent daymare in which he acts out his darkest and most destructive fantasies on some unsuspecting office equipment.
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Stylized and aesthetically designed to look drab and dreary, the video is a realistic and highly representative meditation on the daily dystopian office environment many workers experience. In this way, it is the perfect visual representation of the sonic meanings that Morgan is exploring within “Right Back Down.”
Morgan began his career as a musician in The Lost Brigade band. Here, he opened for Dave Davies (The Kinks) and Company of Thieves at Taste of Lincoln Ave (Chicago). However, seeking a more introspective sound, Morgan parted ways with The Lost Brigade to pursue a solo career.
Between Timepiece and his new song “Right Back Down,” Morgan has made good on mining an entirely new kind of aesthetic with an Americana, indie-folk sound that allows for a freer and more open space for his contemplative lyrics and melodic vocal deliveries.
Morgan summarizes the disparity between the “American dream” and how modern workers struggle to attain it by saying, “If I had a dollar for every time I had a similar experience (to the Right Back Down video or Office Space) working in an office, I wouldn’t need to work in an office.”
With “Right Back Down,” Matthew Morgan kicks in the door on a new era of his musical career, exploring a new sound while keeping true to the themes and principles that have made him such an acclaimed singer/songwriter for years.
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