Hi John-

Below is my current About Me page draft. Would love to get some feedback on this if possible. My questions are these:

Is it too long? Is there anything that seems unnecessary or that diminishes me in some way? Do you get a sense of my USP from this? Is there anything vital that's missing?

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The story so far…

“I think of my songs as little movies, where I get to be the writer, cinematographer, director and lead actor,” says Shapiro, before adding with a big smile: “So it’s basically just an orgy of unbridled narcissism.” “My last album (Metaphysical) was very layered and wide-angle and designed to sound really big. With this new record ROCKAWAY GIRL, I made the conscious decision to go the other way. This one’s more like a scrappy little indie. It still has that sense of atmosphere and place, but it feels much more local and stripped down. And it has more bite.” When asked to elaborate on that point, a smiling Shapiro replied, “Listen to the EP.”

Indeed, ROCKAWAY GIRL immediately strikes the listener as a lean and urgent record and blends of some key Shapiro influences including Roy Orbison, Suicide, and Spoon while also showcasing his hypnotic brand of vocal sensuality and cinematic lyrics . The 6-song EP opens with the title track and quickly introduces the distorted Suicide-esque organs that are one of the record’s main sonic hallmarks. It’s an exuberant, lo-fi affair with organs grinding in tandem with pulsing bass and drums and Shapiro’s whispery, dreamy vocals floating overtop. Elsewhere, the mood is heavier. Especially on “The Waters Edge” a hymn-like pop lament for a mysteriously departed friend and “Johnny”, a pounding, narrative-driven catharsis that features some of Shapiro’s most dynamic and tripped-out vocals to date. The EP closes with “Fade Out On The Weekend” a bubbly, nostalgic piece of classic song craft that sounds like The Strokes covering The Beatles with lyrics by Wes Anderson.

Shapiro recalls some of the life changes he’s weathered, particularly the culture shock of moving from Montreal, where he was raised, to New York City. “I was this naïve kid from Canada confronted by this fast-paced, ultra-hip scene,” he recalls. “There was a lot of confusion and angst and just figuring myself out. It was a struggle. I had these very vague ideas about ‘making it’ but really had no idea what I was doing.”

Not that this fish-out-of-water experience was completely new. “Growing up, I had no role models for the stuff I was really into, no reference point,” he explains. “The adults were all doctors, lawyers, or businessman and kids were expected to follow suit. I was kind of the black sheep.” Succumbing to that pressure at first, Shapiro tamped down his creative urges and went to university thinking he’d become a lawyer. “It seemed like the sensible thing to do but deep down I knew I was on the wrong track. I would get into my car at night and drive around Montreal singing myself hoarse for hours on end. It was a side of me that nobody knew and yet it was the one thing that made me feel connected and alive. There was something almost devotional about it.”

Shapiro would nurture that secret for several years into his early 20’s and credits that period with helping him to develop his signature vocal sound. ‘I was lucky in that I got to make a lot of mistakes when no one was looking.” It was around that time that Shapiro started sketching his first songs by singing into an old handheld tape recorder. Eventually, he got up enough nerve to start auditioning for local New York bands. “I’d find listings on coffee shop bulletin boards or in the back of the Village Voice. This is pre-craigslist. I was nervous as hell but figured the only way to get over it was just to jump in with both feet. I met all kinds of crazy characters.“ Eventually he found his way into one project, then another. “There were some awkward moments for sure,” he admits. “But I was on the path.”

Shapiro also started taking voice lessons. “I was that guy singing scales in his bedroom every day,” he recalls. He also enrolled in acting classes to help with stage fright and further develop as a performer. “I consider my time in acting classes to be absolutely formative,” he explains. “A lot of musicians try to cultivate this too-cool-for-school presence onstage. I was interested in the opposite of that. Being around actors freed me.” In fact, it was while on a national tour as an actor that he bought his first guitar. “A few of the other guys on tour played and would show me chords. We’d have late night jam sessions in these little motels off the highway. That was how I learned.”

Prior to ROCKAWAY GIRL, Shapiro recorded three solo albums and engaged in several successful collaborations. “To The Moon,” his co-write with DJ/producer Tone Depth, garnered critical acclaim and was picked up by Dave Seamans’ Audio Therapy label in the UK and commissioned for several remixes. The track was championed by top DJ’s, including the legendary Tiesto, who featured it during his own set. In their five-star review of that track, DJ Magazine referenced Shapiro’s “brilliant, nigh-on, angsty vocals.” In 2016, the duo would collaborate again on “Halls of White,” which was released worldwide by Noir Music (Denmark) and hailed as a “remarkable vocal tune.”

On the solo side, several Shapiro cuts have been placed in such TV shows as the Gemini award-winning Canadian television show 15 Love, Charlie Jade (a Canadian/ South African co-production), the Canadian reality series Webdreams, and the CW’s reboot of Melrose Place.

The road to making ROCKAWAY GIRL began in the summer of 2017 when Matt convened with his band in a Brooklyn rehearsal space to run through new material. “The magic just wasn’t there. It just felt like treading water and it hit me that it was time to reinvent. ” His next call was to frequent collaborator Fraser McCulloch, producer (and member) of critically-acclaimed indie band Milagres whose resume also includes helming albums for Chaos Chaos, Golden Suits, and Sunjacket amongst many others.

“I basically sent him every shred of a demo I’d recorded all year.” The duo settled on 7 songs – 6 of which made the final EP- and scheduled a series of sessions starting in mid-September. One major constraint was McCulloch’s imminent move cross-country. “Time was of the essence, so I was meticulous in planning our sessions. I made a list of 6 guiding principles that we taped to the side of a studio monitor. We’d check it constantly as we were working to keep us on track. Ultimately, the goal was to break new ground and make something that felt like a cohesive- and honest- artistic statement.” He credits McCulloch with helping him to think more broadly about his vision for the record. “Fraser encouraged me to think not only in terms of what I was trying to express and get out but also in terms of the effect I wanted all of this to have on the listener.”

When asked why he chose to name the EP ROCKAWAY GIRL Shapiro explains, “It was when we were working on the “Rockaway Girl” song that we stumbled onto what the sound of the record was going to be. Once we’d cracked that code the whole record fell into place. “