Matt Pryor in Tampa

Kansas City, Missouri native, Matt Pryor, is a household name for anyone who wasattuned to the second and third waves of emo. His genre-de=ining band, The Get UpKids, were among a small and legendary group that has shaped the musicallandscape for years. However, after growing tired of the boundaries it so needlesslyapplied, the internationally recognized frontrunners eventually transcended thegenre with their later albums and found themselves at home with a more indiesound.Most recently, on his latest album under his given name, Matt Pryor has presentedthe world with The Salton Sea, and it is abundantly clear that this is the continuationof a decades-long love affair with music and being outright obsessed withsongwriting. Steadfast fans of Pryors proli=ic career will also =ind themselves treatedto a style that is more reminiscent of the works of Paul Westerberg and Red HousePainters, that is of course laden with Pryors signature style, whose DNA is deeplyrooted in artists like Elvis Costello and The Afghan Whigs.It should be noted that the chosen title for the album is not one that was pickedarbitrarily, and while not a concept album, the period of time when the songs werewritten were some of the darkest days of Pryors life. After spending six months in adownward spiral in what he sarcastically refers to as the penultimate moments ofhis drinking career, Pryor =inally hit rock bottom. A casual habit that became a full-on addiction had of=icially come to a head, and in the blurry moments when 2022became 2023, Pryor found himself with a choice that so many people before himhave been forced to reckon with:Keep going on this path and face certain tragedyor Clean up, get sober, and stayon the right side of the dirt.Thankfully, Pryor decided on the latter, and the beautiful composite left on theshoreline for all of us to enjoy is the album now known as The Salton Sea. For thoseunfamiliar, The Salton Sea is whats known as a terminal lakemeaning that newwater never =lows int