Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matt Lorenze of The Suitcase Junket released his seventh album To Go On on October 2nd via Bad Chef Records/Symphonic.
The album was created in the wake of losing his sister Kate, providing listeners with a tender, beautiful, and moving album. His latest single “Put Your Phone Down” is raw, pleading listeners to put their phones down and go outside, explore the world, and truly experience life and treasure those in it.
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Indy Review: Suitcase Junket is a very interesting name, I was wondering if it came from your love of collecting? And how has collecting shaped your musical career?
SJ: Yeah, the name does come from my magpie tendencies. I was making all these instruments out of old cans and found objects and I was using the term junket, as in octet, to describe the musical project I was building. When I finally looked up the word junket it had some interesting definitions – sweetmeat, pleasure excursion, professional tour or circuit. So then I just had to figure out what kind of junket I was on and all the old suitcases I had been using as drums and art supply holders pointed the way.
Indy Review: You said that your latest single “Put Your Phone Down” and album To Go On came to you all at once, as if a gift from your late sister, singer-songwriter Kate Lorenz, as if she were giving advice from beyond. Would you say the process of writing and playing these songs has aided in the healing process?
SJ: I think so, yeah. I suppose I feel fortunate to have music and songwriting as tools to help process emotions and experiences in general. Kate and I spent so much time singing and making music together that it’s a natural place for me to go to feel closer to her. But it can also be double-edged because after the song stops the reality of the loss is still there, heavy as ever.
Indy Review: I can see both from the music video, theme of the song, and your Instagram that you love nature. How has nature inspired your writing process?
SJ: Taking long walks in the woods has always been a part of my creative process. It sort of washes out a lot of the worry and stress of our technological existence. The rhythm of the changing seasons here in New England is also a big inspiration. It helps put me in my place, a kind of check on the sometimes rampant ego of being human in these times.
Indy Review: From the theme of the song, I was wondering if there was perhaps a time that you were glued to your phone, and this is a song about the loss of time you could have had with nature.
SJ: I think I still spend too much time on my phone so the advice in the song is ongoing and aspirational. It’s a really tricky business. We’re seeing now that while they’re amazing tools, they are built to pull us out of our surroundings down into solitary scrolling and they can be really bad for mental health. I mean, I’ll pick the thing up to answer a text message or make a post about a show and then the next thing I know i’ve gone down some kind of rabbit hole about how to have more core strength or something.
Indy Review: The track is very soothing to listen to, and I relate to it a lot, since I find myself stuck on social media often, even when I love the outdoors. How would you encourage others to actually put their phones down and enjoy nature? What is your motivation?
SJ: I know there are some tools you can set on your phone that limit your time, which can be helpful. Going out into the world with a curious kind of openness, to just listen and witness the simple passing of time can be a kind of walking meditation. Leaving the phone at home is helpful because it will definitely grab you and tell you to take a picture of what you’re doing which changes the whole experience. But that first step of stopping and taking a step back is the hardest part.
Indy Review: From the music video, you are overlaid over nature videos. Are these videos that you have taken?
SJ: Yeah those videos were all taken by me in and around the yard and the woods near my house.
Indy Review: How does the song and its theme tie into the album as a whole, if it all?
SJ: I suppose if the album theme is grief and loss and hope then this song is about grieving lost time and trying to get it back through simple acts of resistance.
Indy Review: What does the rest of 2026 have in store for you?
SJ: The release tour for this album will be keeping me busy this fall and when I’m home I’ll be hanging out with my family, collecting mushrooms in the woods, pressing apples, stacking wood, and writing. Always writing.
Listen to “Put Your Phone Down” now in our A Single Sit-Down Playlist, out via Bad Chef Records/Symphonic.
