 |
Matt Sharp - Matt Sharp If the word Weezer instantly conjures up a catchy American indie-guitar tune, the cast of Happy Days in one of the best-realised music videos of the 90s, and lyrics that go "Ooh-eee-ooh, I look just like Buddy Holly", then the chances are that this solo adventure travelled by the bassist of said respected group will take you by surprise. Matt Sharp was also front man for The Rentals before that, so even if you've never heard of him, you'll doubtlessly have heard him one way or another.
But don't dwell on that thought for too long, because regardless of his previous excursions, and despite being away from the limelight for a number of years, Matt Sharp has produced a delicious 11-track journey for us to experience. One that doesn't sound anything like the bands we know him from, and as introspective and honest as an album from any self-respecting singer-songwriter needs to be. If you've not quite settled into 2005 just yet, then this might be the ticket. It's non aggressive, unassuming, even slightly unkempt, yet endearing to the last.
Matt might not have the greatest voice you've ever heard wafting over a delicately strummed guitar, but he's certainly got a voice that most bas players would kill for. It's a bit fuzzy round the edges, but it fits the mood perfectly. Of course that's what can make any singer songwriter potentially good; it's all about how not having the best voice in the world, and not having the best guitar playing hands in the world come together. And through some bizarre secret logic end up creating something that you couldn't have heard any other person in the world make.
The melancholia is evident just by scanning through the song titles: In fact just by reading All Those Dreams, Goodbye West Coast, After the Angels and Thoughts From a Slow Train from the back of the CD case, you'll be in the right frame of mind already.
Unsurprisingly, most of the album is guitar and vocal based, but occasionally a bright piano or organ line breaks through to create some tighter edges, most notably on Goodbye West Coast.
A real standout track is Thoughts From A Slow Train. At over six minutes it's fairly long, but this allows the song to really live up to the mood suggested by the title. You can almost feel yourself drifting off as you gaze out of the window, a non-specific American landscape drifting by.
In fact, to record the album, Matt retreated to a place called Leipers Fork in Tennessee. As Mark describes it himself, "I received a call from an old acquaintance. She heard that I'd been looking for a place that was far away from everyone, a place to think, a place to breathe, a place to write and record some very slow and sad music. It was a strange and dark time in my life." And that probably best sums up how this album feels. It's a little lonely and distant, but it's comforting all the same. Whatever it is that the songwriter is working through, and taking time away from, just by listening you can feel the cathartic process happening. By the time you get to the last tracks, Before You Go, and Some Days, the veil is lifting. As he meditates on Before You Go: "Well all the shame you're sharing, it's so old, let it go..." Listen carefully and you'll probably hear the sound of a great weight lifting and dispersing.
Now you could accuse the album of being samey, but this reviewer would rather like to think of it as sustaining a mood. And whether introspective guitar, piano and voice is really your 'thing', the exquisite Some Days, which closes the album, can surely induce goose bumps in the most sceptical. With the piano on full reverb, soaked in rich chords descending hesitantly but ringing with confidence when they finally strike, Matt sings so softly it's almost a hum. To say it's the most enchanting, magical song I've heard all year might not mean much in the middle of January, but I've got a feeling it'll remain that way for some time.
|
