06 December 2021 - 0 Comments

Lunavela, aka Auckland singer / songwriter, and former Collapsing Cities frontman, Steve Mathieson, released the second single from his upcoming album, Imposter Syndrome on 26th November.

The new single, Pandering Meandering, is about Mathieson’s confusing trials and tribulations with online dating – specifically going on what he thought was a date, that turned out not to be.

It comes just over a month after the release of his first single, Six-Out-of-Ten-Friend, which hit the number one spot on the SRN, and has been there for three weeks.

With the exception of the drums, which are provided by Boycrush’s Alaister Deverick, Mathieson plays everything on the track, which was mixed by the unquestionably talented Jol Mulholland.

Mathieson draws his songwriting inspiration from exploring the things that most people think, but don’t want to say. “The more uncomfortable the lyrics make me feel, the better,” he says, and his latest offering stands true to this assertion, with the upbeat pop guitar juxtaposing the self-analytical, vulnerable lyrics.

Unconventionally, he says he usually starts with a song title and develops the idea from there, preferring to work within a “theme” for his lyrics. Mathieson’s signature style seems to be setting those sticky observations that none of us like to make out loud to a catchy, upbeat backdrop, inviting his listeners to freely relate to the discomfort with a knowing smile and a tapping foot.

Mathieson, who fronted Auckland indie band Collapsing Cities in the glory days of the late noughties, says he has always felt a sense of insecurity about his place within the music industry, which led him down a dark path in those days when working on the band’s sophomore album. Having hibernated away for almost ten years, working in mental health, his musical revival began in early 2020, when, despite the world seemingly falling apart around him with covid and lockdowns, Mathieson quit the booze, and the lifestyle that went with it, and fell heavily back in love with songwriting and making music.

“I've finally fixed the hole in my brain, which has been stopping me from doing music properly – social anxiety, not feeling good enough, not feeling hot enough, y'know the usual imposter syndrome that most musicians are plagued with.”

Since then, he has written and recorded the aptly titled album, Imposter Syndrome, with two tracks on it mixed by Dave Iringa (Manic Street Preachers), and has a host of demos ready to go for a follow up. The album will be released in 2022, and covid-willing, Mathieson hopes Lunavela will start playing live as soon as possible.

"I guess, my job is to make you feel something in these crazy numb times in some form, whether that's make you something"

Listen Here

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