Matthew Logan Vasquez is moving back home. Almost two years after his family relocated to Oslo, Norway, to help support his father-in-law, the songwriter crackles with the excitement of returning to his Wimberley outpost this coming September.: “Oslo’s cool, but I’m just not built for it,” he laughs. “It’s weird to live in a place where the sun goes down at three in the afternoon. Lovely, friendly people, and a completely different culture, but it also made me really appreciate mine.”: When his wife and son moved after Christmas 2017, Vasquez holed up alone in his studio to record Light’n Up, his third and most personal solo LP. The album bounces with the former Delta Spirit frontman’s familiar eclectic reach, sincere strums (“Ballad in My Bed”), playful pop (“Ball Pit”), and razing guitar anthems (“Trailer Park”), but also reflects on Vasquez’s past and present with an introspective eye (“Poor Kids,” “I Love My Boy”).: “It was just a really tough experience all around,” he attests of the recording while his family moved to Norway. “For me, it really was the record that needed to get made, one of those things where the best way to get through a storm is just run straight into it. You put a name to your sorrow so you can step on it and shrink it and not be afraid of it, and that’s what we did.”: The recording also reflects Vasquez’s tendency of extremes, coming after his rambunctious supergroup collaboration with Glorietta that mirrored his earlier side project with Middle Brother.: “It’s really bouncing off the other,” he acknowledges. “If I’m not continually interested in what I’m doing, then why should I expect anyone else to be interested? I think collaboration is very inspiring, but sometimes you just need to sit in solitude and dig deep.”
Fri., July 5, 8pm