Mat Kearney Unveils "Ships In The Night" Video

Mat Kearney has just released the music video for his rap-acoustic rock style tune "Ships In The Night," the third single appears on his latest fourth studio album "Young Love," following "Hey Mama" and "Down." The 33-year-old Oregon-born, now Nashville-based musician's high profile in the secular world is buoyed by the inclusion of his songs in more than a dozen hit television shows. The new shoot spanned 2,445 miles over 165 locations.
Kearney explained the meaning of this relationship-difficulty song: "I wrote that about those people that are closest to you but you still feel so far away from sometimes. It's my cry to want to connect with someone that's close to you but emotionally very far away. I'm writing out of my own experience with that." The phrase "like ships that pass in the night" is generally used for people who meet once or twice by chance for a short time but then do not see each other again.
Kearney is a crossover human. He's had one foot in pop music, and another in hip-hop. His most recent album, "Young Love," sees him incorporating more of a hip-hop/spoken word element than ever before. And so far, it's been his biggest critical hit. When talking about the album, Kearney said, "I approached 'Young Love' like a singer-songwriter would approach a hip-hop record. We would start with beats or grooves that your body already responds to. It was a fun and fulfilling experiment."
You know how it is when a good friend falls in love and suddenly it's all they can talk about, obsessing about the new relationship in a gooey way that makes you want to hurl? This isn't like that. It's true that since the release of 2009's "City of Black & White," Kearney fell in love and got married, but this album manages to be hopeful, upbeat and fun without the cavity-inducing sweetness. The album is heavy on handclaps and lo-fi touches that lend a charming quality.