Though it’s still early in his career, Chase Matthew is proving to be one of country’s more prolific young artists. The Tennessee-born singer-songwriter released full-length studio projects in 2022 (Born for This) and 2023 (the ambitious, 25-track Come Get Your Memory) and dropped an EP, We All Grow Up, in the first half of 2024. Just a few months later, Matthew follows that EP with another short release, the eclectic five-pack Always Be Mine. Like earlier outings, the project shows Matthew to be not just after quantity but quality too, as he and a team of producers pull together the many sounds that influence him, like a Sam Hunt-esque, R&B-heavy twang on the title track and poppy, melody-driven songwriting à la Old Dominion on “First”. Other highlights include “Saltwater Cinderella”, a sweeping, midtempo ballad about a love who is like “sunshine when it’s storming”, and closer “How You Been (Letter to the County Line Girl)”, a nostalgic recounting of the one that got away.