MISSIO on ‘Love & Heartbreak’

Photo Credit: Cheng Lee

Austin, TX alternative stars MISSIO are back with their latest release, Love & Heartbreak. Love & Heartbreak represents the sixth album from the dynamic duo of Matthew Brue (vocals, songwriter, producer) and David Butler (co-

producer, co-songwriter, engineer). We had a chance to sit and chat with MISSIO about their latest effort. Love & Heartbreak drops July 3rd on Nettwerk! Pre-save it HERE!

1. MISSIO have never been one to shy away from touching on the ups and downs of interpersonal life, relationships, and issues. Much of your work is grounded in personal experience. On Love & Heartbreak, you continue your vulnerability in your songwriting exploring the joys and pitfalls of romantic relationships. Can you share a little of some of background inspiration that led to developing the theme for this record?

“I’m not one that usually dates much because I’ve been busy building MISSIO. As I was writing this album, I was in an on and off again relationship. For a big chunk of the writing process we were together. I had not given myself to someone like this before. The things you hear on this album show the good and bad of relationships. In a way, I feel that these lyrics are some of the most emotionally based that I’ve ever done.”

2. MISSIO have always taken the idea of cookie-cutter genre labels, and turned them on their head. Love & Heartbreak continues your bold take on sonic landscaping. On this one, we see you form tracks blending elements of rock, indie, hip-hop, and electronic music. Can you speak to some of the inspiration of how Love & Heartbreak came to be from an instrumental perspective?

“A big piece of this album was tapping back into some of our roots. It depends on how we’re feeling everyday. I really view songwriting as blank canvas and how you’re doing that day. We never sit down and write a song with a specific sound in mind. We don’t operate under rules, there is a diversity that comes with our sound. We definitely made an effort to use more synth. We incorporated more drops on tracks like “Bleed”. We end up pieceing things together and then we end up with this diverse array of sound thatwe’ve kind of become known for.”

3. Love & Heartbreak sees you once again team up with Dwight A. Baker for production. Interestingly, this record was developed remotely because of geographic constraints. Can you speak to how collaborating remotely played a role in the development of this record and how the process of this one may have differed from your previous releases?

“A lot of times we’ll get together in the same studio after working on demos independently. That’s a beautiful process in a way. However, it can be hard because you have time constraints to adhere to. On this one, working independtly allowed us to work on ideas over and over again. Having that extra time was really great. In the more traditional method of collaboration, you don’t get as much time. I will say, I did miss being in the studio with my homies. This one gave us more time and freedom to tinker with ideas.”

4. Love & Heartbreak is being hailed as a return to the dark themes, both musically and thematically, similar to your 2017 monster debut Loner. In the past you have been quite open and serve as an emotional support system for the MISSIO Mafia on topics such as depression, anxiety, and addiction. Do you have any experiences you can share with regard to your interactions with your dedicated fan base that have in response to some of what you have shared from this record?

“To be honest, not much yet. But when we go out on tour, a lot of that happens in that environment, people share what stuff means to them. We’ve had some positive interactions and feedback online. I’m excited to hear those stories. My goal for this album is for people in love to have the music be able to bring them closer to their partner. And for those going through heartbreak, I want them to feel less alone.”

5. MISSIO has a rich history of collaboration and features on your records. This time you team up with Kent Osborne on “You Are My Love” and LIONSTORM on “Where’d You Go?”. Can you touch on how these partnerships came to be on this one?

“The Kent Osborne relationship came from a Fortnite collaboration we did. They introduced us to Kent, we had written a track with him for the game. And we couldn’t distribute it outside of the game much. So getting the chance to work with him again was great.”

“LIONSTORM, I found randomly and loved their music online and listened to them a lot. We just happened to know someone who produced them and were able to collaborate. I just respect their artistry so much.”

6. You will be continuing on the road this fall in support of Love & Heartbreak. Can you share what you’re most looking forward to about sharing these tracks in a live setting?

“We’ll be in Europe and UK and there is lots of touring upcoming. When you look at streams and numbers and things, being on tour you get to see the stories and people behind that. You get to hear people and see them in a room vibing to something that David or myself wrote in our bedroom. That is such a gift.”

7. What’s next for you all that you’d like to highlight?

“The album drops July 3rd, we’re looking forward to people being able to listen to the thing front to back. Would love people to be able to light up a jay or drink a glass of wine and just be able to escape reality for a while with this music.”