Dove Award Winner, Mat Kearney, returns with his fourth studio album Young Love revisiting the heavy grooves, spoken word and singable choruses fans came to love from sophomore-release, Nothing Left To Lose. After becoming a licensed cab driver in hometown, Nashville, Tennessee, Kearney found lyrical inspiration for Young Love through the conversations he had with passengers. Young Love was recorded in Nashville with Kearney’s long time producers Robert Marvin, and Jason Lehning.
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#5 Album Of 2011| Posted December 26, 2011 By now, you should know if the song you are listening to is byMat Kearney. You may still be getting introduced to his music, but his sound is unmistakable. It's acoustic pop layered over hip-hop and urban beats. It's a wispy and cool voice that's a combination of singsong and melodic rap. And it all blends together to create some pretty unmistakable songs.Young Love is filled with many musical moments that are hard to ignore.
Young Love, as the title suggests, revisits a time of falling in love. A time filled with butterflies, happiness, discovery, innocence and more, reflecting Mat's own life of recently getting married. Songs like the title track, "Ships In The Night," "Count On Me," "Young, Dumb and In Love," and "She's Got The Honey" focus on young relationships. They are fun, carefree and bring me back to that time in my own life as well before life starts complicating all of our relationships.
But along with that, there's also a few songs that dive into the darker places in Mat's own life, revealing some very personal struggles, none more prevalent than on "Rochester," a song about Mat's own father who faced loneliness, hardships and physical abuse. It's raw, rough, and tough to listen to, but it grounds the album in a reality that life isn't just about the up and joyful times. "Ships In The Night" is one of my favorite songs on the album, but despite the joyful beats and delivery, it pulls from a tough place in a relationship that continues to pull apart. But the lyric is just genius full of gems line after line. For anyone who's been in a relationship that gets past the initial butterflies, you'll be able to relate right away with this song.
Lyrically, the album is wonderful but like Owl City, there's not a ton of spiritual take away here. I'm ok with that because Mat's been very open about his own spirituality and I'm one that believes we need just as many positive songs about relationships and love as we do about our relationship with Christ. After all, there's more to love in this life than God and He designed it that way. We have our significant others, our family members, our friends and that's life. Mat sings about life and places his lyrics against a musical landscape that continues to be refreshing, relevant, intricate and inventive. If you enjoy great music, you don't want to miss this album.
Following the success of his major label debut, Nothing Left To Lose, Mat Kearney returned with an evolved sound and an open-hearted album of self-discovery, City of Black & White which is a chronicle of the people he met and missed during that journey. Now, Mat returns with his fourth studio album Young Love, revisiting the heavy grooves, spoken word, and sing-able choruses fans came to love from sophomore-release, Nothing Left To Lose. After becoming a licensed cab driver in hometown, Nashville, Tennessee, Kearney found lyrical inspiration for Young Love through the conversations he had with passengers. "Down" will be the first single released to Christian CHR/AC radio, while "Hey Mama" can currently be heard on mainstream rock radio. I would describe Mat's style as a great mix of Jack Johnson, The Fray, Matthew West and Brandon Heath, which are among my favorite artists. The album lacks strong spiritual messages and reminds me more of a Jack Johnson album relative to the number of songs about relationships such as "Hey Mama," “Count On Me” and "Learning To Love Again" which are all great songs and remind me of “All I Have,” "Here We Go" and “Annie” from City of Black & White.
Super-catchy opening track "Hey Mama" describes the first meeting between Kearney and his new wife at the Anthropologie store in Tennessee that she was working at. After courting her for a few months, he stole her heart, and now it's all in the tune. About the song he says, "The album really began with 'Hey Mama'. After clapping into my laptop and programming this beat, I was dancing around the room actually freestyling words. This wasn't me sitting around with some friends and an acoustic guitar. It was this visceral writing experience. I tried to find a way to write stories to these beats." “Ships In The Night” is one of my favorite songs of the year and features Mat’s signature sound and a hooky chorus. "Down" is the “Closer To Love”-style spiritually-themed song of this album. I love the lyrics “can you hear when we call, there where we fall, standing our backs against the wall, Top of our lungs, hallelujah, where pain and love bleed into one, baby when all you see is darkness, coming down now, we all need forgiveness, coming round now.”
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Young Love is a great listen and includes several memorable songs including "Hey Mama," “Ships In The Night,” “Sooner Or Later,”"Down" and the closing song "Rochester." If you like the musical styles of Brandon Heath and Matthew West, you'll like the musical style of this album, but lyrically it is much more like The Fray and Jack Johnson.
More personal| Posted July 14, 2012
I never listened to Mat Kearney much. Not until I heard "Ships in the Night" that is. After I heard that song on Air1, I searched for other songs by him. He has made an impact on me with this most recent album. I love how it's more personal than his others were so he seems much more relatable. I love it. lol :)
I don't think it'll ever get old| Posted July 09, 2012
I bought this album months ago, and I still listen to it all the time. I can't get enough of it. Each song has a different twist, and it covers many genres of music. The lyrics are all full of meaning and emotion, and Mat Kearney really conveys that well. From cute love songs, just plain happy songs, songs about hard times, and more, I think there's something everyone can relate to and enjoy on this album.
You keep passing me by...| Posted June 11, 2012
The newest release of Mat Kearney's, "Young Love", is by far my FAVORITE record out of all his previous work. Though Mat is probably most well known for "Nothing Left to Lose", this album is highly underrated. From catchy, fun songs like "Hey Mama", and "Young Dumb and In Love", or more serious songs, like "Rochester", this album is perfectly well rounded. The song Rochester sounded like it came right from Mat's heart.. and that's an amazing thing to write like that. And of course, my favorite track on the album, is "Ships in the Night". It was actually the first song I had heard off this album, when I heard it on RadioU. Such an amazing song!
I've listened to this album numerous times, and still not one bit sick of it. Those are the best kinds of albums. :) Go pick this one up, if you haven't yet! Totally worth it!
Mat Kearny "Young Love" Review| Posted February 01, 2012
In 2007, a song called “Nothing Left to Lose” hit the Christian radio airwaves, the artist being newcomer Mat Kearny. I was hooked on the song and as his popularity grew, I enjoyed his radio singles that followed. Now Kearny returns with a collection of 10 songs, most of which were inspired by the conversations with passengers in his taxi cab, as he became a licensed driver. The album goes by the title Young Love.
The album opens with the extremely catchy first single “Hey Mama,” which Mat wrote about the first time he met his wife, Annie, whom he married in 2010. The extremely catchy drum beat and clapping match with Mat’s stellar voice, and his vocal abilities are showcased very well throughout the album. “Ships In The Night” seems to be about Mat and his wife trying to figure out how marriage is supposed to work. The song features a pounding drum beat and Mat’s unique style of rapping. “Count On Me” showcases Mat’s keen sense of vocal rhythm, along with a nice touch of kid vocals. This song makes a strong commitment to a girl to be there for her. “Sooner or Later” promises a girl they’ll make it through a tough spot. The song showcases Mat’s nice high vocals on the chorus.
“Chasing The Light” encourages a fellow believer to keep pursuing God, and this song also includes Mat’s rapping. “Learning To Love Again” is a slower ballad about healing broken friendships, this one seeming to be with a good friend or brother. “Down” was my favorite track on the album, because of Mat’s vocals on the track. This one is the most spiritual of the songs on the album, and encourages two broken people that God will forgive them even when they’re at their lowest.
“She Got The Honey” is a song lyrically and almost musically similar to “Hey Mama,” celebrating the joy of love. “Young Dumb and In Love” also is in this vein, and it was nice to have an electric guitar in the song on top of the pop beats. The album closes with “Rochester,” an emotional song in which Mat and his guitar carry along the story of his father who ran an illegal cigar shop, got arrested for drug possession, and came back from prison trying to start over and make things right. The song deals with the story of the father as well as Mat’s own personal feelings. This is the perfect album closer
Overall, I was blown away by this album. The pop beats and vocals make a really enjoyable listen. While not a lot of spiritual content, this is a great album to listen to when you feel down, as most of the tracks are very feel-good. If you know a Christian who’s looking for pop music without messed up lyrics, point them to Young Love by Mat Kearny, you won’t regret it.
Rating: **********10/10
Top 3 Songs:
1.Down
2.Hey Mama
3.Ships In The Night
Feel free to comment on this review so I can make them the best they can be!!
5/5| Posted August 29, 2011
Mat Kearney's new album, Young Love, marks a welcome return to his spoken word/singing roots even though musically, it sounds vastly different then Nothing Left to Lose. For fans of that album, this one might not be their cup of tea as the music takes on more of a hip hop feel this time around. But those fans should take a listen anyway and hopefully find one of the more interesting and heartfelt albums that mat has released so far.
Lyrically, this is signature Mat Kearney. There are songs about love, spirituality, and hope. The real highlight of the album is the final track, "Rochester," which only features Mat's voice and an acoustic guitar. With that Mat crafted his most emotional and heartfelt songs of his career as it touches on themes of love, loss, war, abuse, and hope all wrapped in a story about his father. It's a wonderful way to close out an album and gives Mat's music a new sense of maturity.
With solid lyrics, a fun hip-hop style, and the return of Mat's rapping, Young Love is a highlight that is a strong contender to be album of the year material this year.
An OK album| Posted August 09, 2011
With every Mat Kearney CD- I miss "Bullet" so much more. Not to say this CD isn't any good but where Mat Kearney was original and fresh was the mixing of the back beat/ rap vocals with stunning guitar/piano work. While certain songs on this CD (see and download: Ships in the night) hail back to the good ol' days...most of the work is reminiscient of his previous work "City of Black and White"
Nice Vocals| Posted August 08, 2011
Matt Kearney always brings an interesting twist to each song he delivers, however not sure he won me over on this one! It just didn't draw me in like others before! That being said, this sure doesn't mean this is a bad album at all, his vocals are incredible as always, and for some it may move them in just the right way! Matt I wish you much success and pray the lord blesses you on this journey!
great beat, on the fence lyrics| Posted August 08, 2011
I really liked the beat for his songs, and his vocals were amazing. The cd was good, but the lyrics is what quickly turned off my attention and interest. In a few songs I found references to a girl's thigh color such as in "Hey Mama", and a few other songs talk too much about kisses that seem to be taken lightly, and don't paint a pretty picture to a would-be younger listener. Also one of the songs had some language that could have not been used to describe a hard situation in life. Overall, some of the other songs had great meaning and were presented in an appropriate and heartfelt manner.
Catchy slices of life, but little redemption| Posted August 08, 2011
This album has catchy choruses and great beats. The lyrics are full of rich, provocative slices of longing for relationships. But although there's some cries for hope and a few signs of faith, there's really not much redemption here. I longed for something similar to what David Crowder Band has on Remedy -- acknowledgement of the pain, but also a reminder of the grace of Christ. Not every song has to be this way, but it would have been nice ot have one song on the album that pointed more clearly to Jesus and how he can and does bring full salvation.
Mat's best yet| Posted August 02, 2011
Each song is so personal, I almost feel like I'm reading a diary that's been stolen and being passed around school. I've always liked a few songs on his cds, this is the first I like every song! I love his music, his beats, and his voice.
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