Photo by Vanessa Heins.
PUP's fourth album, THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND, drops April 1 on Little Dipper/Rise Records. They've now shared "Matilda," their third single from the record following November's "Waiting" and January's "Robot Writes a Love Song."
The new track is also an amorous tune involving a non-sentient being, written directly from lead singer Stefan Babcock to his electric guitar. Appropriately, it's not a tearful ballad but a bar-room shoutalong, sung with the sense of urgency that every true love song needs.
“Matilda is the name of my favourite guitar," Babcock writes. "She was a gift from my friend Ryan, after watching me accidentally break the only guitar I owned in the middle of a long tour. I had no money to buy a replacement, and Ryan’s act of kindness is up there on my list of 'nicest things anyone’s ever done for me.' I played Matilda nonstop for 7 years at every PUP show, even when my bandmates started complaining that she sounded like shit. As the band got bigger, the pressure to sound better was building and so I bought a 'good' guitar and played Matilda less and less. Before I knew it I hadn’t played her in over a year. I wrote this song based on this intense feeling of guilt and sadness and shame and nostalgia and regret, watching her rot away in a corner. I love this guitar and I love Ryan and wanted to do right by them, and I felt like I’d failed them both. I convinced the band that Matilda deserved one last rip on a PUP record, and I played her during the bridge of this song. It sounds so shitty. But good shitty. Great shitty. For me, it was the most joyful and cathartic moment in the entire making of this record.”
In the song's accompanying video, Matilda starts a party among the trinkets for sale at a pawn shop. Watch it below.
