Love Letter To A Record: Mikayla Pasterfield On Matt Maeson’s ‘Bank On The Funeral’

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Camden-born singer-songwriter Mikayla Pasterfield shares her thoughts on Bank On The Funeral, the 2019 debut from American troubadour Matt Maeson.

Pasterfield recently released her debut EP, Heritage Listed, via Camden Press. The four-track effort saw the prodigious artist work with producers such as New-Haven (Allday) and LEN20 (Lil Nas X, Jessica Mauboy) to forge a collection of deeply honest and resolute balladry reflecting on small-town life, queer romance and discovering your true identity in the backdrop of regional Australia.

The EP can be streamed below, with Pasterfield’s Love Letter to Bank On The Funeral after it.

Mikayla Pasterfield – Heritage Listed EP

Bank On The Funeral came out when I was in my last year of high school. This album was a driving force and deep inspiration for my love of writing music. Hearing the honesty of his lyricism really influenced my own writing style, which was only just beginning to take shape at the time.

This album was accompanied by Bank On The Funeral (Stripped), which was a re-recorded version that really highlighted the poetry in every single song. There are no skips on this album, but my personal favourites are ‘Feel Good’ or ‘Easy On Me’. Both just feel so deeply personal, and I’ve found that every time I enter a new phase in my life I relate to these songs in a completely different way.

I’ve always loved Matt’s music. Ever since finding his song ‘Cringe’ on YouTube back in 2017, I knew that I would be listening to his music forever. My first – and, to date, only – tattoo is of the cover art of his EP The Hearse, because I truly resonate with his music so deeply. Bank On The Funeral will always be an album I listen back on and hold so close to my heart, and that lyrical honesty was such an inspiration for my own EP, Heritage Listed.

Matt Maeson – ‘Feel Good’

Though my sound is slightly folkier than this album, I really aspire to get closer and closer to this genre. To me, it really drives home the right feelings, and highlights the stories behind the songs so well. There are also these repeated melodies throughout the album that really blend everything together so masterfully; from the opening song ‘I Just Don’t Care That Much’, which is this massive punchy track, to the closing title track where it really slows everything down and leaves you feeling this deep catharsis. It’s the perfect rollercoaster of emotion that brings you along for the journey.

Everything Matt Maeson releases is incredible, but this album will always be special. There are so many moments and memories attached to these tracks for me and it’s such a nice way to look back on them. I hope that, someday, I’m able to express such honesty and vulnerability in my own music, and have it touch people the way this album has touched me. Until then, I’ll just keep re-listening to Bank On The Funeral over and over again.

Further Reading

Love Letter To A Record: Hassall On Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bookends’

Love Letter To A Record: Hein Cooper On Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’

Love Letter To A Record: Jo Davie On Bon Iver’s ’22, A Million’