To Dream of Something Wicked

Written in a period of significant life change – namely, a move back to his native Toledo – To Dream of Something Wicked finds Mat Kerekes filtering his unflinchingly honest songwriting through the lens of bittersweet nostalgia. The familiar locale of his hometown helped him settle back into a place of comfort, inviting some trusted voices into the process: Kerekes’ uncle added guitar, bass and melodica, while his brother Chris was a key songwriting partner. While 2023’s You Look Like a Stranger took a more maximalist, production-rich approach, Something Wicked strips back Kerekes’ craft to its bare essentials, elevating the visceral emotions at the heart of his songwriting. The full-circle process ultimately leaves Something Wicked as an intimate scrapbook of memories from Kerekes’ own life and those of his loved ones, with dynamic pacing and whimsical instrumentation swirling to create a thematic portrait of an artist at a crossroads, exploring the the introspection and reflection of a life lived and the uncertainty of what lies ahead. “As I get older, I keep asking myself how much longer I can do this,” he says. “How much longer do I want to be on the road? How much more can I grow? I don’t want to say this record is my last one or a goodbye – it’s definitely not – but in this weird way, that’s what it feels like to me. I wanted it to feel like turning the chapter in a storybook, the end of an era, whatever that might turn out to be.”