On his debut album, Matt Hires emerged as a golden-voiced troubadour with a penchant for setting heart-on-sleeve lyrics to sweetly infectious melody. Now, on his sophomore release entitled This World Won't Last Forever, But Tonight We Can Pretend, Hires weaves in grander arrangements, brighter hooks, and a more richly textured sound to assert himself as a formidable new force in the singer-songwriter realm.

“My favorite artists are the ones who keep making records that give you something different from what came before, but still hold onto their own unique sound overall,” says the 27-year-old Tampa-based singer/guitarist. “With this album, I pushed into the direction of making music that’s more fun and pop-oriented but also retains that sense of honesty that I’ve always valued as a songwriter.”

An ardent fan of legendary songsmiths like The Beatles, The Byrds, and Tom Petty, Hires also found inspiration in the earnest, earthy alt-rock of contemporary artists like Wilco and Coldplay. He channeled that inspiration into his first band, Brer, then struck out on his own as a solo artist—and, at age 23, released his first album for F-Stop/Atlantic Records. Shooting to the top 10 on iTunes’ overall “Top Singer/Songwriters Albums” chart, Take Us To The Start instantly announced Hires as an uncommonly authentic pop-rock phenom.

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