Mattie is a vocalist from Dallas who has been making waves in their hometown the past couple of years, after putting in time with a few different groups in the past decade and cutting their teeth at Medicine Man Revival’s monthly residency. Now they are ready to step out on their own as a solo artist with their debut EP on Leaving Records, Jupiter’s Purse.

For this project, Mattie teamed up with producer Black Taffy, and from the second you press play on this EP, you’ll understand why. The two have an excellent musical understanding of each other, both taking modern pop/R&B as a starting point and then pushing the limits into outer space. Black Taffy can certainly throw down some smooth slow jams with some great grooves, but he then puts that music into a blender with some avantgarde jazz and classical music, creating these song structures that really take you on these unexpected journeys. In turn, they also push Mattie as a vocalist and lyricist. Fortunately, Mattie is well up to the task, creating this really expansive narrative in just the course of five songs with a voice steeped in gospel, jazz, and R&B traditions. To explain the title, Mattie states, “I’m very fond of the planet Jupiter in the astrological sense because Jupiter represents expansion. It also represents the planet that takes everything that it is that we desire to see for ourselves in this life and it expands it, right? I was inspired to call it Jupiter’s Purse because it also reminded me of a female womb in a sense, the incubation process that happens within the womb, and kind of the purse being the womb of Jupiter. And the planet is basically holding our things and incubating them until it’s time to expand them.” With this foundation, Mattie then tells the story of a character named Move, who goes on a journey to explore the duality of body and spirit, and to discover their true self. While all of this is great, what brings the project across the finish line is the performance of Mattie on the mic. They have a really rich and warm voice, with great control and wonderful melodic instincts. There is a lot of experimenting with song structure across the EP and some real poetic language, but Mattie gives you an anchor with the compassion and honesty coming through when they sing.

Jupiter’s Purse is likely going to be a lot of people’s introduction to Mattie, and they certainly made this opportunity count. This EP is ambitious and experimental and doesn’t immediately sound like everyone else out right now. It’s also incredibly thoughtful and emotional, creating a really moving listening experience in the process. This project lets you know that Mattie is an artist to watch out for.