Sweet, warm, and hazy sounding, it makes sense that Mann wrote “In Plain Sight” on the hottest day of last year. In a recent interview with Dork Magazine, she said the song is about: “it’s crazy, out of all the people in the world, you manage to find someone so perfect for you, hidden in plain sight”. Listen to “In Plain Sight” below:

Mann’s acoustic fourth EP You Look Like You Can’t Swim is set to come out at the end of June. In an Instagram caption, the singer confessed, “I’ve never been so excited about a project and all these songs have been so exciting to watch come to life”. The singer seems to have found her home in the stripped-back quiet style as she told Dork the EP, “really made me realise how much I enjoy the folk side of my music and the harmonies and types of instruments that go along with it”.

Though her EP is not even available to the public yet, Mann is already looking forward. She revealed to Dork that she’s already got the name and “most of the tracks” for her debut album.

The ambitious 23-year-old has already cultivated quite a following, sold out shows in her hometown, and supported some of Gen Z’s favourite artists such as Dodie, Arlo Parks, Beabadoobee, and The Staves on tour. The British Music Embassy shined a spotlight on the singer by including her on the lineup for SXSW Online 2021. Her comforting single “Paper Mache World” from her 2020 EP Because I Wanted You to Know featured in the hit coming-of-age queer Netflix drama Heartstopper. Last year, she was nominated for the Ivor Novello Rising Star Award.

Showcasing her versatility, Mann teamed with the French-Korean singer-songwriter spill tab in January putting out the lively guitar-driven bedroom pop track “Borderline Insane”. Listen to “Borderline Insane” below:

On the 18^th May, Mann will be serenading a sold-out crowd at the Jazz Café in Camden, London. Just before the release of her fourth EP, she’ll be supporting English singer-songwriter Tom Grennan on four outdoor dates in forests around the country. She will also be performing at two festivals this summer: Kendal Calling in the Lake District and Tramlines in Sheffield. For tickets and more information see here.

For a complete list of Matilda Mann’s upcoming UK shows see below:

18/05/23 – Jazz Café – London
09/06 – Westonbirt Arboretum – Gloucestershire
10/06 – Cannock Chase Forest – Rugeley
15/06 – Thetford Forest – Thetford
16/06 – Delamere Forest – Northwich
21/07 – Tramlines – Sheffield
27/07 – Kendal Calling – Lake District

Following Songs of Surrender, U2’s acoustic, stripped down project released in March 2023, The Edge has professed an excitement to return to electric guitar. Speaking to Guitar Player on his perspective on electric guitar, he said, “I know the answer to that. I’ve been working a lot on new guitar music, and I’m very excited about it. It’s at that prototype stage where… who knows? But the answer to the question is ‘yes.’ I’m finding myself for the first time in a little while getting very excited about the electric guitar again.”

Aside from sharing an enthusiasm to return to electric guitar-based music, The Edge hasn’t given much away on what fans can expect from the U2’s new work yet. But, speaking on U2’s goal as a band, he shared, “Our challenge was always to get to that guy at the back of the room, somebody who isn’t really a fan or isn’t paying attention.”

Speaking on the thought process behind Songs of Surrender, The Edge said, “There was always an intense pitch to our music early on. So my thought here was, ‘Let’s take minimalism to the nth degree, if it’s appropriate.’ And on a lot of these songs, it worked. We left just the bare skeletons of the original arrangements in terms of themes and hooks, taking things down to a really light touch.”

Despite The Edge giving little away on the band’s musical plans moving forwards, frontman Bono has shared his thoughts on the direction that U2 had been moving in recently, and where they want to go from there.

Bono reflected, “We all make mistakes. The progressive-rock virus gets in, and we needed a vaccine. The discipline of our songwriting, the thing that made U2 — top-line melody, clear thoughts — had gone.”

He continued, “With the band, I was like, this is not what we do, and we can only do that experimental stuff if we have the songwriting chops. So we went to songwriting school, and we’re back and we’re good! Over those two albums, ‘Songs Of Innocence and Experience’, our songwriting returned. Now we need to put the firepower of rock ‘n’ roll back.”

Speaking on his plans for U2’s next rock project, Bono said, “I don’t know who is going to make our fuck-off rock ‘n’ roll album. You almost want an AC/DC, you want Mutt Lange. The approach. The discipline. The songwriting discipline. That’s what we want.”

U2 had been promoting the release of Songs of Ascent, an album that has been in the works since 2009. Bono shared in 2022 that this album is nearly complete, however its release has been put on hold in favour of releasing a “a noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album” first.

Stream U2’s newest album, Songs of Surrender, here: