It's Never Too Late to Begin Again

My story with music began before I knew what songwriting was.

When I was five years old, my family took a vacation to Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Somewhere during that trip I found a cassette of Endless Summer by The Beach Boys. I played it over and over until everyone else was probably tired of hearing it. I wasn't. Something about those melodies and harmonies stayed with me long after the vacation ended — and music has been part of my life ever since.

The long way around

I took piano lessons as a kid, picked up the guitar in high school, and spent years writing songs and playing in local bands with friends. Then, like so many musicians, life led me down a more traditional path: college, a master's degree, a career in corporate finance.

But I never stopped writing. Songs accumulated as unfinished demos, voice memos, scribbled lyrics, and melodies that only existed in my head. Every now and then I'd tell myself I'd come back to them someday.

It turns out "someday" took longer than I expected.

What do I actually want?

After becoming sober in 2020, I started looking at life differently. For the first time in years, I stopped thinking about what I should be doing and started thinking about the life I wanted to build.

Then came a trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, in 2024. One afternoon I spent nearly two hours floating in the Adriatic Sea, staring at the sky, coming back to one simple question: what do I actually want?

When I climbed out of the water, I knew.

I wasn't chasing nostalgia or trying to relive my twenties. I genuinely loved creating music — writing, arranging, recording, producing, learning, solving creative problems. More than anything, I loved taking the sounds I'd been hearing in my head for decades and finally bringing them into the real world.

5:00 a.m.

So I committed. I built a home studio. I invested in better instruments instead of more excuses. I started waking up at 5:00 every morning so my evenings belonged to music.

Progress became the goal — not perfection. Some days that meant recording guitars or vocals. Other days it meant studying production techniques, or humming an idea into my phone before it disappeared.

Little by little, twelve songs came to life. I'd envisioned them as full-band recordings from the start, and after I began programming drum parts myself, I reconnected with my longtime friend Adam Accetta. One drum track became twelve, with Adam playing across the entire album.

What it's really about

When I released my first single, "Foolin the Fool," in June 2025, I thought this journey was about making records.

Over time, I realized it was really about connecting with people. About conversations, stories, and finding common ground with people I've never met through three or four minutes of music.

If one of my songs helps you through a difficult day, sparks a forgotten memory, inspires you to chase something you've been putting off, or simply reminds you that you aren't alone — then it's already accomplished more than I ever hoped.

Every song here is ultimately my own story: hope after uncertainty, growth after setbacks, curiosity over fear, gratitude over regret. And the belief that it's never too late to begin again.

I'm still learning. I'm still writing. I'm still chasing the songs I've been hearing in my head for years.

Thanks for being here for it. Start with the music — the newest single, "We're Not Afraid," just dropped.

— Matt