Matt McManus is a singer-songwriter from Jersey, Channel Islands. 2008 has seen him complete his second album Happy Endings and he's returning to the studio over the winter to work on yet more new material.

As a solo performer Matt's part of the booming Jersey acoustic scene. A regular at Chambers and the Blue Note Bar, he's also performed at La Hougue Bie, Gorey Fete and Jersey Arts Centre in 2008 and played gigs everywhere from Brighton to Aberdeen as part of his October tour of the UK.

But more than just a singer-songwriter, Matt is a versatile musician. He learnt to play piano at an early age and remains an entirely self-taught guitarist and drummer. Matt also has a distinctive voice and a producer's ear, and all these elements come together on Happy Endings, a full studio recording where guitars, drums, vocals and keyboard embellishments – all performed by Matt – come together to create a full-bodied rock/pop sound dynamic enough to keep your interest listen after listen.

Matt's first attempt at recording, aged 11 and armed with just a keyboard and tape recorder, was embarrassingly awful. It was the kind of record that would make MmmBop look like Stairway to Heaven. But it was a start. Graduating through simple four-track recordings and winning songwriting awards as he went through school, he put together his first real album, Underdog, in 2005. By this stage Matt was drummer in Bristol alt-rock band The New Root and his acoustic set was a popular opener for their live shows.

Shortly after Underdog was recorded, however, Matt moved to Jersey and all but stopped performing until being introduced to the Acoustic Club at Blue Note Bar. An EP entitled The Ballad and the Boy marked his return to recording but over the past year and a half Matt's redeveloped his acoustic style, influenced by John Mayer, Damien Rice and particularly strongly by Jersey musicians like Rick Jones. The songs on Happy Endings – some of them three years in the making – were in the main put together mentally before attempting to recreate the sound using his new ProTools-equipped studio, but with his new-found affinity for the acoustic guitar Matt's developing a body of impressive new songs (All In Time, That's All I Know) that are favourites in his live performances already.

In an age where every other song seems to be about Saturday night drinking, Happy Endings refuses to hide behind the superficial and deals with deep and often personal stories. None less than Kingdom For Your King, a song inspired by a girl who turned up at a gig with drug and self-abuse problems. But where the songs are introspective, their vibrant production keeps them out of traditional singer-songwriter territory and references Matt's rock influences (I'm Becoming, When You Know The War Is Won) – this is undoubtedly an album to play loud. Hallelujah, the intimate centre of the album, is a softer, acoustic guitar-based track, before the beats return in You, leading to the brooding finale of the title track.

Matt's set to close 2008 with a handful of dates in Jersey before firing up his BrickWallElectricLight studio to start recording again, entering 2009 with more gigs both in Jersey and the UK and another new album.