May 6, 2019 – Nashville, TN – Hot on the heels of their performance at Nashville’s behemoth NFL Draft Experience, the songwriting duo of Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis, better known as Striking Matches, have just released their new EP Morning, the first in a series of three releases due out in 2019. Morning is the first release after a tumultuous year of setbacks for the duo, most notably their departure from Capitol Records. “2018 was a challenging year for us in many ways, but I think sometimes you have to have trials and hurdles to overcome in order to find your best self,” says Zimmermann. “It pushed us, hard, but it also allowed us to be artists and reconnect with ourselves and what we do, and what makes us, us.” Stream Morning here.
“There seems to be a lot of sadness in this EP, not necessarily on purpose, but fittingly in the wake of our last year, but it is the therapeutic kind of sadness that one has to feel in order to reach the other side of hard and trying experiences,” adds Davis. Morning certainly starts off with a heavier weight than past Striking Matches releases. The EP opens with “Wake Up Alone”, a driving mid-tempo rock song with an all too real message; “Nobody wants to be the first to say ‘Baby, I was wrong’ so we wake up all alone.” “Only One” and “Every Word” follow; the former a swampy example of Striking Matches’ signature blues-pop sound, the latter a fingerpicked ode to remembering lost love. Things pick up with a healthy dose of bottleneck slide guitar and stomping rhythm in “Burning Down” before the album closes with “Don’t Hold Back”, a ray of positivity and sunshine after having weathered the storm. Davis notes, “We kept Don’t Hold Back where it is as a sort of triumphant answer to it all. In order to move on and be better, you have to see the joy in things and never hold back.” The music video for “Don’t Hold Back” was shot and directed by multi-faceted Nashville artist Casey Pierce. Fans can see how Pierce captured the mood of “Don’t Hold Back” here.
Overall, Striking Matches have captured some difficult feelings and moods, not in a reactionary way, but thoughtfully and gracefully with Morning, setting the stage for two more EPs to be released this year; a continuing journey with a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Zimmermann is positively looking to the future, saying, “The music we’ve been writing the past year is reflective of all of the places we’ve been, and all of the places we’re going and we’re really excited to share these songs and stories over the next several months.”
Stay tuned for US tour dates as well as more Europe tour dates in addition to Striking Matches’ previously announced UK tour.