After spending the ’80s as an up-and-coming jangle pop multi-instrumentalist with acts like Oh-OK, Lloyd Cole, The Golden Palominos, and The Buzz of Delight, Matthew Sweet emerged as the leading figure of the power pop revival with the release of his platinum-selling breakout record Girlfriend in 1991. Sweet adhered to traditional song craft, yet subverted the form by adding noisy post-punk guitar and flourishes of country-rock, resulting in an amalgam of the Beatles, Big Star, R.E.M., and Neil Young. Girlfriend became a word-of-mouth critical and commercial hit with its title track reaching the Top Five on the Modern Rock charts and its anime-styled music videos entering heavy rotation on MTV.

His next two records, Altered Beast (1993) and 100% Fun (1995) continued the hot streak, producing multiple top ten singles and achieving gold and platinum sales. Sweet’s success continued in the late ‘90’s and 2000’s with successful US and European tours, major label releases (including Blue Sky on Mars, In Reverse, Modern Art), and a revered collaboration series with Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) – Under Covers Vols. 1-3. More recent studio albums Sunshine Lies and Tomorrow Forever are championed by critics as persuasive testaments to the enduring qualities of Sweet’s adventurous, emotion-charged songcraft. On Matthew’s thirteenth album, Catspaw (2021), he plays every instrument (except drums) for the first time in his career. American Songwriter called it “a one-man show of sorts that represents another high point in a career that’s now almost four decades long and shows no signs of lagging.” 2024 saw the release of a newly remixed and remastered archival live recording of Sweet’s epic July 4, 1993 headline performance at WXRT’s “Taste of Chicago” in Chicago’s Grant Park.