Hot Mud is living the dream (and embracing the reality) in his stock-taking single and video The Best Life I’ve Ever Had — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
You can call quirk-pop purveyor Hot Mud an optimist if you want; heck, on the right day, he’d probably agree with you. Just don’t dare suggest he’s naïve. On his new single, the Ottawa pop-rocker takes a hard look at his personal circumstances and decides his glass isn’t just half-full — it’s brimming over, simply by dint of it being the only one he’s ever going to own.
“Some days are terribly good,” sings the pensive Mud (real name: Matthew Watters), before quickly clarifying that others are “fantastically bad.” Ping-ponging from feeling “miserably happy” to “ecstatically sad” has him wondering for a moment if he might actually be losing his mind. Ultimately, though, he realizes that the perpetually bumpy ride of his existence is well worth it. That journey of self-realization is perfectly conveyed by the music, which comes clanging out of the gate as an infectious power-pop jangle but gives way to a moody breakdown that’s practically avant-garde as the lyric grows more introspective. And then the pace picks up again, riding the wave of the song’s uplifting conclusion to sunnier days ahead.
Its overall tone of clued-in whimsy makes The Best Life I’ve Ever Had the perfect closer to Mud’s sophomore album Pink Cloud Pop — a nine-song opus whose very title denotes hopeful self-examination. The “pink cloud,” see, is a clinical term for the state of unbridled optimism recovering addicts typically feel at an early stage of sobriety. That phenomenon is usually transitory, so naming his second album after it is Mud’s way of challenging destiny; of winkingly daring euphoria to beat the odds and hang around indefinitely.
Recovery is an integral part of this artist’s story. After years of battling with crippling addictions — he says it felt like a lifetime — he made the brave move of checking himself in to rehab. Once he had his day-to-day under control, he moved to a secondary facility, where he set about developing new skills as part of his nascent personal renewal. He learned the ins and outs of recording, so he could get his thoughts about sobriety down in musical form. And he learned to produce and host radio shows — which he started doing while still admitted, and which proved invaluable in networking and promoting his music.
The most tangible and immediate result of all this was his first album, Rehab Rock, which offered a raw and unvarnished look at his days as an addict and his then-embryonic recovery. It followed by the EP Electric Gutter Club, a palate cleanser for Pink Cloud Pop’s new flavour. Reflecting the progress its creator has made, the new album sets itself apart with a positive perspective and a more cheerful sound. And in a true sign of artistic maturation, he’s widened his lyrical and thematic focus.
Through personal ruminations like The Best Life I’ve Ever Had and Stranger In The Mirror, he’s learned to embrace his eccentricities in a way that’s paradoxically made him feel more connected to society’s endless legion of outcasts. The winning Long Live The Weird and Castaway Parade are the proof, raising a glass to the misfits Mud recognizes as kin on his never-ending journey to self-acceptance and renewal.
Watch the video for The Best Life I’ve Ever Had above, hear more from Hot Mud below, and tune into his website, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
