Song Premiere: Matthew Fowler, “Blankets”

Matthew Fowler still plays the same Yamaha FX 335 acoustic guitar his parents gave him at the age of 14. Which is not so remarkable, when you take into account that that was only five years ago. At 19 years old, Fowler shows the same mastery of earnest, strummy songcraft as established artists like Damien Rice and Ben Howard.

Wrap yourself up in “Blankets,” a track off his upcoming debut album Beginning (out 3/25.)

“‘Blankets was a very last-minute addition to the album,” says the Orlando, Florida-based artist. “I wrote the song one morning fairly late into the whole recording process, but it seemed to fit so well with the rest of the tracks that I had to include it. We had just finished ‘Near’ and I loved the texture that the trumpet created, so I wanted to incorporate that into ‘Blankets’ as well. It essentially came from being so excited about hearing the song’s I’ve been writing over the years take their shape and cohesively fit together. It was really one of those moments where it all became pretty real.”