Matt Von strikes a universal chord with his personal new single Still In My Heart — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Penning a tribute to a fallen loved one is an unavoidably intimate undertaking. Whether the finished product ends up sounding like a private moment we shouldn’t be eavesdropping on — or like a gift to be shared with all humanity — is entirely up to the quality of the artist.
Toronto singer-songwriter Von has taken the latter tack on his affecting new single. A paean to his mother, who passed away in 2023 after a long battle with cancer, the song transcends his own experience and turns it into a work of mass catharsis.
It’s a musical sendoff that’s neither maudlin nor morbid. Weighty subject matter notwithstanding, Still In My Heart is both uplifting and irresistibly catchy, due in large part to its invigorating, light-headed bounce. Von’s youthful voice leaps excitedly into falsetto as the rhythm skips along beneath him, turning what could be a defeated dirge into a hand-on-heart pledge of eternal gratitude. All the while, meticulous production by Luca Caracciolo boosts and augments the song’s vocal/guitar core with keyboard accents and other embellishments that are applied tastefully in all the right places.
Most important, the lyrics convey their fond farewells in a way that’s generalized enough to resonate with anyone experiencing grief over just about anything — not just death, but the sad end to a relationship of any kind:
“I wanna be with you
After all that we’ve been through
I know that you’re far
But you’re in my heart
We still have forever
And for now, I’ll just settle
It’s been kinda hard
But I won’t fall apart
You’re still in my heart.”
“It’s always hard losing someone in your life, but I had never imagined I would be without my mom, my best friend, at the age of 25,” Von muses. The ordeal was so preoccupying that this natural talent — who had been playing music since he was eight — didn’t write any new material the entire time she was sick. But four months after she had passed, he sat down with an acoustic guitar, and the number poured out of him in about an hour. “This song came as a blessing to me, which I believe was sent from my mom to me,” he says.
It wasn’t until he played the song in concert, however, that he realized he had something truly special on his hands: “I performed the song live a couple times when it was unreleased, and the reaction that I received from audiences was surreal. I knew I had to record this song and have it released.”
Now it’s the fourth single in Von’s expanding catalog, joining prior entries like his debut Crazy, and the subsequent Help With Something, which he wrote and recorded as a tribute to his parents. Family has always been a big deal to this Toronto kid. From 2018 to 2020, he performed as part of duo with his sister Sarah Jordan. They were a popular recording act and a regular presence at local events and festivals, until the day Von decided to strike out on his own. As a solo artist, he’s cultivated a distinctive sound that seeds his pop/acoustic roots with hints of country and gospel.
Still In My Heart is his first release in three years. “I want this song to be a tribute to my mom, and how much of an incredible person she was,” he says. “I would not be where I am today without her love, guidance and nurturing heart. She was my biggest fan and best friend. I continue to live my life today through her memory.”
And that isn’t just a promise he’s made to himself. “I will never forget what my mom said to me just before she passed: ‘Don’t ever stop doing what you love.’ I won’t, Mom. I promise. I love you. You’re still in my heart.”
Check out Still In My Heart above, hear more from Matt Von below, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
