REVIEW: MATT ANDERSEN – HONEST MAN (2017)

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Glorious soulful blues from Canada gets UK release

All the awards – and Matt Anderson has plenty over the years – and all the accolades (with 10 million views on Youtube you get plenty) in the world sometimes aren’t enough.

Enter the very last song on this record. “One Good Song”. A world weary, cracked tune in the great tradition of casting the troubadour as the itinerant drifter, in its first verse, it contains these few lines: “another room full of strangers/clapping their hands off time/I need one that will/make them all stand still/when I get to the perfect line”

Those words, might give a fantastic insight into an artist that is still searching for anything that connects, but also into the sacrifices he – and those like him – make for their art.

It would be tempting to say, “yeah but on “Honest Man” Andersen has written 10 great songs” and he has, but it’s not an album that deserves a twee and glib response such as that.

This is Matt Andersen stretching himself. He travelled from Canada to New York to make it with famed Producer Commissioner Gordon (Amy Winehouse, Santana and countless others) and here, between them, the co-writers and the gifted musicians they have constructed something that is both different and reassuringly familiar.

It begins with “Break Away” (first line “I’m starting to feel like I know this town too well”) and it’s light, airy organ driven sound is odds with the lyrics which are shot through with longing.

This soul fuelled vibe never leaves the record. “The Gift” works perfectly with Andersen’s rich gospel voice, the title track, thumps like JJ Grey and Mofro and is one of a number to make wonderful use of a full on horn section. Indeed, on one of the songs later in the record “Who Are You Listening To?” the band give vent to a full-on Southside Johnny thing and sit comfortably on the New Jersey Boardwalk.

On this collection, though, you are just as likely to hear a cut like “I’m Giving In” which is piano led and sounds like The White Buffalo at 3am when he’s feeling at his most vulnerable, and the country hum of “Quiet Company” which its fine Lap Steel.

“Lets Get Back” ushers itself in on the back of a mighty drumbeat, and “All The Way” is funky and fine, while the jazz elements to “Last Surrender” make for a something that is utterly timeless.

“Honest Man” is the sound of what was already a supremely talented artist testing, stretching and reaching deep inside himself to locate something he clearly needed to find. He has managed it – and then some.

Rating 8.5/10

Matt Andersen –  May 2017 UK Tour
Book Tickets – www.mattandersen.ca/tour

The Grand Social, Dublin
Thursday 18 May
Tickets – http://bit.ly/2jmUV2r
35 Liffey Street Lower, North City, Dublin 1, Ireland
www.thegrandsocial.ie

Fochabers Public Institute, Fochabers Village, Scotland
Friday 19 May
15 High St, Fochabers, Inverness, IV32 7EP
Box Office – 01343 821 325
www.morayvillagehalls.org.uk/hallhire/fochabers.html

The Tooth & Claw, Inverness
Saturday 20 May
Tickets –
http://bit.ly/2jmSEo1
Tel: 01463 243 000
50 Baron Taylor’s St, Inverness IV1 1QG
https://toothandclawpractise.youcanbook.me/

Tunnels Aberdeen
Sunday 21 May
Tickets –
http://bit.ly/2jmSEo1
Box Office – 01224 641 122
Carnegies Brae, Aberdeen, AB10 1BF
www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/partner-venues/the-tunnels

The Mash House, Edinburgh
Monday 22 May
Tickets –
http://bit.ly/2kaWba1
Venue Tel – 0131 220 2514
37 Guthrie Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JG
http://themashhouse.co.uk/

Night & Day Cafe, Manchester
Wednesday 24 May
Tickets –
http://bit.ly/2kaCWQZ
Venue Tel – 0161 236 1822
26 Oldham St, Manchester, M1 1JN
www.nightnday.org

The Borderline, London
Thursday 25 May
Tickets –
http://bit.ly/2kaCWQZ
Venue Box Office – 0203 871 7777
Orange Yard, Off Manette Street
London, W1D 4JB
http://theborderlinelondon.com/

 

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