July 9th, 2020 — Diamond Shake, the solo project of LA-based singer/songwriter Matt Hitchens, premiered “Great New Meaning,” the latest video in his From Method to Madness video series, earlier today in an interview with imPRESSED.

“‘Great New Meaning’ is about hitting rock bottom and asking for help,” Hitchens tells imPRESSED’s Dawn Jones. For years, I was out of control and had no direction, and had driven myself into a pretty deep hole… I started to look into everything I was doing, and the reasons why I was doing it. It also forced me to reevaluate who I had become, what I was doing, and who I trusted. For the first time, I felt that I had at least begun to take the first steps in the right direction.”

Along with the Dominique Bloink-animated video, Hitchens revealed plans for another video in the series out in September as well as a 9-track live covers album out in August.

“The album was a big huge production type thing, and so I thought it would be fun to do the complete opposite, and record all 9 songs in one take, live, just me with an acoustic guitar,” he elaborates.

As discussions on mental health, addiction, and immigration in America gain more prominent, nuanced coverage on cable news, ​Diamond Shake mastermind Matthew Hitchens has lived at the epicenter of those hot button issues for the past fifteen years.

Growing up in London and playing in bands through his teens, Hitchens moved to Los Angeles seven years ago to pursue a music career for himself. After a few failed projects, missed auditions, personal struggles, and a particularly bad visa experience, he decided to “stop relying on other people” and make the album that faces those demons head on by himself.

“It’s all about my mental health problems like depression, anxiety, anger, low self-esteem and addiction,” Hitchens says. “Each song is about a different one of those issues while also telling the story of making and releasing the album, ultimately ending in failure.”

Dour as that might seem, the resulting ​From Method to Madness aims for cinematic and ambitious heights in its heavy subject matter, emphasized with a music video series for the album to be released throughout 2020.