(Los Angeles, CA) April 16, 2025 – Today, singer-songwriter Matt Maltese shares the latest teaser for his new album Hers, due for release on Friday, May 16th via The Orchard, in the form of new single “Buses Replace Trains.”
The song’s title was born from a conversation with a close friend about band names his Welsh uncle had suggested to him when he was a teenager, including “Buses Replace Trains.” The concept felt like the perfect basis for a sweet and earnest love song, with the grandeur of the subject matter brought to life with the swell of strings and twinkling keys. “I know it’s not the simple, but it is”, the song closes.
“There was something touching about the phrase ‘Buses Replace Trains’ out of context. It triggered of course the nostalgia of rail replacement buses in Reading growing up, but I also just couldn’t shake that it was a title for a love song. So plain and ordinary and quotidian,” Matt adds.
“Buses Replace Trains” follows the singles “Always Some MF,” “Anytime, Anyplace, Anyhow” and “Pined For You My Whole Life” as a taste of the mature musicality and heartache embodied in new album Hers.
Listen to “Buses Replace Trains”
This week Matt announced a run of intimate record store instore shows in the US and UK around the release of Hers, with events taking place in Long Beach at Fingerprints May 2nd and New York City at Rough Trade May 8th, followed by performances in London, Liverpool, Nottingham, Oxford and Brighton in the week following album release.
Matt also recently announced his Tour For You My Whole Life 2025 run in support of the release of Hers, playing the biggest venues of his career across North America, UK and Europe from September through to December. The 46-date tour commences in Nashville, stopping by major venues including Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre and London’s Roundhouse, before concluding his European run in Barcelona in mid-December. Full list of dates below, tickets are on sale now and available via matt-maltese.com.
Matt Maltese 2025 tour dates
May 2 – Long Beach, CA – Fingerprints
May 8 – New York, NY – Rough Trade
May 17 – London, UK – Rough Trade East
May 18 – Liverpool, UK – Rough Trade Liverpool
May 19 – Nottingham, UK – Rough Trade Nottingham
May 21 – Oxford, UK – Truck Store
May 22 – Brighton, UK – Resident
September 16 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
September 17 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle
September 19 – Charlotte, NC – Underground
September 20 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
September 21 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore Silver Spring
September 23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Roxian Theatre
September 25 – Toronto, ON – HISTORY
September 26 – Montreal, QC – Beanfield Theatre
September 28 – Boston, MA – Citizens House Of Blues
September 30 – New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place
October 2 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
October 4 – Brooklyn, NY – Paramount
October 6 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
October 7 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s
October 9 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe at Old National Centre
October 10 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore
October 11 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
October 13 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
October 16 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
October 18 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
October 19 – Seattle, WA – TBA
October 21 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theatre
October 23 – San Diego, CA – House Of Blues
October 24 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre
October 25 – Denver, CO – Summit
October 26 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
October 29 – Dallas, TX – House Of Blues
October 30 – Austin, TX – Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheatre
November 1 – Houston, TX – House Of Blues
November 2 – New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues
November 4 – Tampa, FL – The Ritz Ybor
November 20 – Leeds, UK – Project House
November 21 – Birmingham, UK – O2 Institute
November 22 – Bristol, UK – O2 Academy
November 24 – Dublin, IE – The National Stadium
November 26 – Glasgow, UK – SWG3
November 27 – Manchester, UK – O2 Ritz
November 28 – London, UK – Roundhouse
December 1 – Paris, FR – La Cigale
December 3 – Brussels, BE – Ancienne Belgique
December 4 – Utrecht, NL – Tivoli Vrendenburg
December 6 – Cologne, DE – Kantine
December 7 – Berlin, DE – Metropol
December 9 – Vienna, AT – WUK
December 11 – Milan, IT – Legend Club
December 13 –Barcelona, SP – Razzmatazz 2
Matt Maltese’s sixth studio album Hers arrives as his most insular and intimate to date, and his first fully self-produced effort since second album Krystal. Hers exists in a twilight world, pairing heartfelt songwriting and dry witticism with the gentle quiver of strings, a flourish of woodwind or the sound of a creaking old piano.
Though its wounds may still feel tender to the touch, Maltese made Hers with several years’ perspective on the events that inspired it, processing the complexities of a serious romantic relationship and its ending through the rearview. “I’ve written a lot of music that comes from a place of infatuation, but this record was written on reflection of a much longer-term love. The complications and wonderful roads that that goes through and the more informed heartaches that come out of it. I got to really reflect and slave over it… It’s a bit like having a year to write a really important email,” he says.
“I’m British enough to feel a slight shame of writing so many love songs in the past,” he adds. “Maybe the more interesting thing on paper would have been to go to the other side of the world and write a concept album about prehistoric creatures or something, but at the end of the day, we’re all human, and love and people are things we’re all continually affected by. It’s my job as a songwriter to excavate the things in my life, and that’s what I was going through.”
Having first established himself as a songwriter with a knack for dry one-liners and a keen eye for self-deprecation, Maltese released debut album Bad Contestant back in 2018. The three albums that followed over the next five years cemented his position as one of the UK’s finest young songwriters. Critics were unanimous; Matt Maltese’s piano harmonies, playful approach and quintessentially British wit saw ‘the mundane transformed into fantasy’.
Since the release of 2023’s Driving Just To Drive, Maltese has been busy in multiple behind the scenes roles, lending his songwriting abilities to a number of fellow artists, and establishing indie label Last Recordings OnEarth. Taking a slightly different approach to his own craft, last year saw Matt share covers album Songs That Aren’t Mine, a collection of some of his favourite songs, recorded at home with guest features by friends including Dora Jar and Liana Flores. Elsewhere, he made his theatre songwriting debut, composing all original music and lyrics for The Royal Shakespeare Company’s winter production of Twelfth Night, described by The Observer as “inspired… perfectly balances Shakespeare’s dramatic polarities”.
Late 2024 also saw Maltese embark on a headline tour of Asia, Australia and New Zealand, following live runs through the US, Europe and the UK, including his biggest show to date at the Wiltern, Los Angeles, and a sold-out show at London’s Brixton Electric. His global appeal as an artist is undeniable, with sold-out shows from Sydney to Sao Paolo and Jakarta to Tokyo to his name.
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