 The
Matthew Show
"Texas" CD
Naive
Music
Genres: singer / songwriter, indie pop, folk rock
The Matthew Show
PO Box 2611
New York NY
10108
May 24 - 30 2004 |
The Matthew Show is not a bad songwriter, but the compositions
on Texas frequently drag on longer than they should. Every song
on this disc is brimming in strong melody, tight instrumentation, and
high quality singing, but they don't end properly - instead they just
go on, gradually coming to a close after minutes of useless,
repetitive blandness. "Bring Me Safely Down," for example,
wastes a remarkably long time with a repeated chorus before finally
being put out of its misery. If it weren't for its needlessly tiresome
chorus, it would actually be a very strong song.
Other tunes also show major promise, but suffer a similar fate.
"Old Enough" is a quality slice of folk-rock, but its ending
is just a bland, repetitive instrumental conclusion; "The
Loneliest Boy In Toyland," meanwhile, simply becomes
uninteresting by its finish. Even the acoustic cover of Phil
Collins' "The Roof Is Leaking" seems a bit longer than
it needs to be.
Texas is a very promising and enjoyable record, though it
could be improved if two minutes were cut off of each song. A warning
to The Matthew Show for the next album - don't try to make
everything into an epic; it isn't worth the trouble.
76%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 11 tracks, distributed by the
band, released 2003] |
