Bad Copy

Boston’s JATK (pronounced “Jack”) has released their debut album entitled Shut Up and Be the Light. Led by songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Jatkola, the LP details his cancer journey and other life events as the record came together over the past two years. Jatkola was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to ramp up. Now with a clean bill of health, he has released the new album on digital, vinyl and CD formats.

Jatkola had the following to say about the new album:

“Yes, this album is all about hope. You would think that being diagnosed with cancer and the world shutting down due to a pandemic within days of each other would have the opposite effect on my point of view, but I just didn’t see it that way. All I had was hope. I mean, if you think about it, you can’t get much lower than that, right? I had everything to complain about, but what good was it going to do? All I could do was be present, look ahead to the future, and try to make that better.”

Stream all twelves tracks below and grab your copy of Shut Up and Be the Light today!