Matthew Squires & The Learning Disorders is a band centered around the songs of singer- songwriter Matthew Squires. They are based in Austin, Texas, and will be releasing a new EP entitled The Electric River on October 21st, after a three year hiatus. Since 2012, the ever-evolving band has released eight critically-acclaimed albums which have received praise from Stereogum, TheNeedleDrop, Brooklyn Vegan, and many others.
With his distinctive vocal style and penetrating lyrics, Squires occupies a unique niche within the realm of indie pop, creating an idiosyncratic sound which led the prominent Austin music site, Ovrld, to dub him “the best successor to Austin’s late great Daniel Johnston.”
The Electric River was written throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021. At the time, Squires was processing the breakup of a long-term relationship while simultaneously juggling the feelings of surreal isolation and existential uncertainty common to many peoples’ experiences during the pandemic. The songs on the EP are a document of that personal turbulence, as well as the failed attempts of our crumbling societal and media landscapes to make sense of a fragmenting world.
In the spring of 2022, after two years without performing, Squires and his band arranged and recorded The Electric River with a DIY setup, taking over the bottom floor of lead guitarist Gianni Sarmiento’s parents’ house for a weekend. Grateful just to be able to play again, the recording sessions managed to recapture some of the joy the band had experienced during their adolescence making music in Austin, made all the more meaningful given the rapidly changing dynamic of the city. What emerged from these sessions was an intimate record with a much more raw sound compared to Squires more recent albums. At a mere six songs (whittled down from the 30+ songs Squires wrote throughout the pandemic), the record is lean, economical, and well-rounded. The track “The Life of Trees” offers a redemptive palate cleanser after the surreal and sardonic “The Ballad of Norm Macdonald.” The final, titular track counter-weighs the somewhat garage band feel of the rest of the record with a distinctive bedroom pop sound that hearkens back to some of Squires’ major influences, like The Microphones and Daniel Johnston.
With grace and a healthy dose of irony, Squires and his band have created a record which manges to capture a paradoxical joy that emerged from the (sometimes quixotic) search for love and meaning during the turbulence of the past few years. In an era with so much music so widely available, it is refreshing to hear something which stands out so firmly. The Electric River is yet another album of masterful songwriting from Squires and co., one which offers to touch your heart, mind, and spirit in one stroke.
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