Matt Costa Toasts the Night in 'Good Times' - Premiere

Click to listen to Matt Costa's 'Good Times'

By choosing to hop across the pond and record his forthcoming EP and album in Glasgow, Scotland, the Southern California singer-songwriter Matt Costa intentionally made himself a fish out of water. The result: his bittersweet new single, "Good Times."

"Every night, after we got done recording, I would walk back to my flat above Sauchiehall Street; folks were shuffling in and out of bars," Costa tells Rolling Stone. "I'd stop, get a drink, then head up to the room. I started thinking about all the 'Good Times' those folks were having and how it seemed like they would never come to an end. In the early morning, it would die down and everyone disappeared to their corners of the city. I would wake up to the sound of seagulls, head downstairs and do it all over again." 

"Good Times" is an anthem for the ambivalent. As Costa sings, "Everyone smiles for a sad song/ Especially when they’re riding high." This dichotomy is backed by the heavy texturing of a solid downbeat, folk-rock acoustic guitar and a jubilant horn section.

Matt Costa's EP Sacred Hills arrives on November 6th and his self-titled album is due on February 12th.