Matt Champion releases "Mika's Laundry"

Today, Matt Champion releases his debut solo album Mika’s Laundry. The album includes previously released singles, “Aphid” featuring Dijon, “Slug,” and his recent collaboration with JENNIE, “Slow Motion,” which PAPER Magazine called a “surging, heart-on-sleeve track.” Alongside director Anna Pollack, Matt has unveiled a fully realized visual world around Mika’s Laundry that includes the newly-released video for “Dogfish,” which displays the many colors of his Arcadian utopia.

Mika’s Laundry represents a defining shift in Matt’s sound with his return to solo music, taking his time to mold new ideas over the course of several years and craft a singular body of work that many may not have expected. At the album’s core, Matt writes thoughtfully about the complexities of his relationships and asks the existential questions that come with growing up and discovering your place amongst your peers. Matt co-produced the album alongside Henry Kwapis, Dijon, and a handful of other close collaborators, warping his voice to complement the textures of the music.

Equally important to the music is the world Matt crafted within which the album exists. A remote, but technologically sound community of cement-walled facilities, open plains, and greenhouse-like domes, at the center of which lies the album’s namesake club, Mika’s Laundry. On album opener “Green,” Champion ushers in this eco-brutalist dreamscape with layered, manipulated vocals that mimic the sound of laser beams as he wanders through a mundane daydream. Piece by piece Champion builds his musical sanctuary and dives deeper into themes of existentialism, forming his own conclusions on desire and affection, most notably on album track “Steel” featuring Dora Jar. With Mika’s Laundry, Matt is reintroducing himself through a free and meticulously crafted personal statement of his experiences in life and love, scored by the sounds of a future he’s envisioned.

Listen to Mika’s Laundry, check out the “Dogfish” video and stay tuned for more from the artist.