You Be The Judge: Matt Hires, “Restless Heart”

We come across new artists each and every day, but are all acts worth making a fuss over? With You Be The Judge, we’re leaving it up to YOU, our readers. Should we keep tabs on these rising artists, leave their tunes behind — or at least let them stew a bit longer before we give them another chance?

Meet this week’s act up for your consideration: Matt Hires.

After releasing his debut record Take Us to the Start in 2009, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter is back in 2013 with a big new single: “Restless Heart,” a majorly bitter kiss-off track dedicated to a dastardly girl up to no good, disguised as a stomping burst of sunny, folk-pop fun. The track’s already drawn comparisons to fellow friends in folk, including Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers, although Hires generally commands a more contemporary pop-rock leaning sound — think John Mayer or Jason Mraz. (He also just got off tour with Matchbox Twenty.)

The verses are pretty twangy, but that chorus plays like an instant, Top 40 pop earworm: “Hey, you got a restless heart/Beating out, out, out on your sleeve!” Hires chants. Give the boys of One Direction a few banjos — it probably wouldn’t sound all that different.

The song comes from Hires’ four-track EP released back in February, Forever (you might have heard the stomping, anthemic title track featured on Grey’s Anatomy recently), which was released ahead of his sophomore record due out later in 2013, This World Won’t Last Forever, But Tonight We Can Pretend. (Quite a mouthful.)

Alright, enough rambling: It’s time to decide. What do you think?

Listen to “Restless Heart” above, then vote in our poll below to let us know if you want Matt Hires to remain a fixture on the site.

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