Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Wondering about the title of Matt McAndrew’s new EP?

“Rush in Slowly” is a line from the lead single “Bones” and seemed to fit perfectly, Matt told Voice Views.

“Within the song, it has a more sensual sentiment, but it also really applies more broadly to the process of getting the record out,” the Season 7 runner-up from The Voice said. “I was super eager to put out new music, but I knew how important it was to take my time and make sure everything was right.”

Matt fans — and probably most Voice fans — know the story.

He showed up on the show in the fall of 2014 a 23-year-old from Philly with an open box tattoo on one wrist. He planned to fill in that box with a check mark once he accomplished his goal of landing a record deal.

After advancing all the way to the finals with Team Adam Levine, he was signed by Republic Records and got to check that box.

But the union produced just one single. So Matt turned to fans through Pledge Music to help finance his post-show EP.

The result is “Rush in Slowly,” a wonderfully diverse six-song project that landed on iTunes earlier this month. He had released “Bones” as a lead single a couple of weeks earlier.

“Before we got into the studio to record, ‘Bones’ had been my favorite track straight from the writing room,” Matt says. “Stylistically, I think it’s a good follow up to both what I did on The Voice and to my first album, ‘View of the Pines.’ If people are only going to hear one song out of the batch, I want it to be ‘Bones’.”

With the exception of “Wasted Love,” his finalists’ single on The Voice, Matt wrote all the songs on the EP. Other standout tracks include the up-tempo EP opener “Carried Away” and “Hard Day.”

Matt says he wrote “Hard Days” five years ago, but never released it.

“It’s gone through a bunch of different incarnations and I tried to work in the best bits into the record version.”

And one of the co-writers on “Wasted Love” was Mike Fiorentino, who became good friends with Matt and wound up co-producing “Rush in Slowly.”

celebrated the EP with a recent release show at the Cutting Room in New York and a sold-out performance at Bourbon and Branch in Philly. (Check out a great live performance of “Bones” from the latter show in the video at right.)

His advice for other artists who find themselves in a similar situation?

“The record deal kind of just happened as an extension of being on The Voice,” he says. “Republic has an arrangement with the show, so they just snatched me up as a contestant more so than as an artist. It never felt legitimate to me.

“Thankfully, I have amazing fans that helped me put out this record. I think I’d like to be on a label again eventually, but it has to be the right thing. I’m not in a hurry and who knows, the industry is changing so much.

“I would advise other artists to build up their presence independently as much as possible and partner up with someone only if and when it makes sense. It’s your dream; try to get what you want out of it.”

You can follow Matt through his website and Facebook. On Twitter, he’s simply @MattMcAndrew.

See other recent Voice View interviews about new releases with
Queen Hilma (Andi & Alex)
Gina Zo (Castanzo)
Chevonne and the Fuzz
Angie Keilhauer
Ellie Lawrence
Madi Davis
and a look at all album and EP releases from 2016