I remember Matt Costa from his stakeboarding days. A serious injury sidelined Costa from skateboarding so it is great to see his music career take off. Unfamiliar Faces is the follow-up to 2006's Songs We Sing and it is scheduled to be released on October 2nd.

Like Songs We Sing, Unfamiliar Faces will be released on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records and Costa is once-again working with producer Tom Dumont (No Doubt).

“Being around Tom, it was easy to have all these feelings flow naturally. One of the first things he told me to do was to stop practicing and just let it come out – it was like the light went on in my head,” says Costa. “The more you learn about something, you still might not fully understand it, but at the same time that’s what keeps it fresh – that’s the key to music."

On this upcoming release, Costa mines his imagination once again, crafting an ambitious collection of songs that explore themes of love, loss and fear. From the piano-driven opener “Mr. Pitiful” to the title-track, Unfamiliar Faces traverses musical styles drawing on elements of pop, country, folk and rock resulting in an effortlessly intoxicating musical experience.

When Costa sat down to write what would become Unfamiliar Faces, he locked himself in his Sacramento bedroom with some of his most treasured belongings and let inspiration take over, absorbing stories and memories from his possessions which included his favorite books, a wooden pipe and a box of old 45’s among others. In the spring of 2007, Costa re-teamed with Dumont to record the album.

After the buzz that Songs We Sing generated, which includes playing Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza along with headlining his own tours, big things should follow for Costa with the release of this new CD.

Links:
Matt Costa's Website
Matt Costa's MySpace Page