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Another month and
another singer
songwriter pops out of
the woodwork. Quite
frankly the last one was
a bit of let down – If
James Blunt had kept his
mouth shut during
interviews and thought
“you know what? She
really wasn’t all that
anyway!”, half way
through the album, he
would have been
bearable… well, maybe.
Tom Baxter too, so much
promise yet never really
produced the goods on
the day. So up steps
Scott Matthews from
Wolverhampton with his
debut album ‘Passing
Stranger’. Mark
Radcliffe is already a
fan, having already had
Scott in for a live
session on BBC Radio 2,
after a fantastic
response to his
forthcoming single
‘Elusive’. XFM London
too, have played
‘Elusive’ and it has
received praise from
listeners. Is he ready
to carry the weight of
expectation that is
currently being placed
on him?
‘Passing Stranger’
certainly lives upto
it’s promise. The first
song, ‘Dream Song’, is a
soaring uplifiting piece
of music that combines
sweeping cellos with
eastern sounds of sitars
and tablas. Here he
wears his influences on
his sleeve a little; It
seems, to me anyway, a
nod in the direction of
‘Dream Brother’ by the
late Jeff Buckley.
Unlike Buckley, and many
other recent singer
songwriters, the general
mood of this album is
uplifting and relaxed.
It doesn’t have the
dark, often gothic,
depths that Jeff Buckley
used to delve into,
isn’t as depressing as
Damien Rice, and not as
whinging as ol’ Blunty.
It wouldn’t be fair on
either artist to compare
Scott to Jeff Buckley,
but if you are looking
for an artist of a
similar ilk, then they
are quite similar -
throw in a bit of Ed
Harcourt and you’re
getting there. Like Ed
Harcourt the music is
often very uplifting.
‘The Fool’s Fooling
Himself’ has a melody
that just jumps up and
shouts ‘Summer’s here!
Get in a car, wind down
the windows, go to the
beach and play me all
the way there!’ in a
Alan Partridge style
voice. ‘Eyes wider than
Before’ has to be the
song to listen to on the
journey home with sand
in your toes, falling
asleep on the shoulder
of the person next to
you. It’s almost
hypnotic with it’s tabla
drums and softly sung
lyrics.
What I really like about
this album is the little
instrumentals that are
littered throughout it’s
17 tracks. They show how
the other songs have
developed and musicians
who are all clearly
buzzing from playing
together. Scott Matthews
is clearly influenced by
many different artsits –
Tim and Jeff Buckley,
Dylan, The Beatles, Paul
Weller to name a few,
but this album is truly
his own. I can see this
album slowly gaining
more and more
recognition and Scott
going on to much bigger
things. More
importantly, there is
something on here for
everyone. It’s going to
be the soundtrack to a
lot of peoples lives
this summer, including
mine.
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