Matt Hay: Dog and Pony Show (digital outlets)

 |   |  1 min read

Holy Smoke
Matt Hay: Dog and Pony Show (digital outlets)

Recorded live in the studio (Darren Watson's Lamington Recording aka his lounge in Pōneke Wellington), this collection of crafted songs with their feet and heart in country-folk and Americana comes with a lived-in intimacy.

And behind singer-songwriter Matt Hay are slide guitar (Watson), accordion (Craig Denham), double bass (Steve Moodie) and percussion (Delia Shanly).

There's a terrific slice of cajun-influenced pop-cum-doo wop on Promised Land which cleverly manages to allude to both but hits a point where it's both and neither. Holy Smoke is its more upbeat cousin who has dropped by bringing the Jordanaires.

Your Love is All I Need subtly suggests tropical breezes and an afternoon on Jimmy Buffett's boat and Lonesome Kind finds him heading off on the road at a slow walk carrying a simple melody which is both immediately familiar and affecting.

Hay's gift -- beyond his obvious songwriting chops -- is a voice which is strong but never assertive, laidback but never lazy, expressive but not straining for effect.

Close to Guy Clark and John Prine's understatement (Two Words) and refined lyrics, Hay's songs and style are immediately appealing for their clarity, observational nature and a certain wry honesty.

Underplaying is his ace: “All I know is what I see in your faraway eyes” on the melancholy Faraway Eyes and “my body's aching/my life is fading” on Need You Now.

When he obliquely sings of politics (“smoke and mirrors, truth and lies”) on the title track he avoids specifics which would lock the song in time and space. Rather he relies on broader imagery – “the man on the box at night blowin' smoke just to give us a fright” – to conclude in quiet resignation you just “close your eyes as they kiss you goodnight”.

This is Matt Hay's fourth album and if you haven't heard of him before – and we'll admit we hadn't – then you'll doubtless be driven to hear more at his bandcamp page.

Eight songs, and not a word or note surplus to requirements.

.

You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here


Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

The Eels: Meet the Eels and Useless Trinkets (Geffen/Universal)

The Eels: Meet the Eels and Useless Trinkets (Geffen/Universal)

Wherein cult band the Eels get the kind of re-issue/repackage usually reserved for Major Big Name Acts: Meet the Eels is a 24 track compilation of 10 years from 1996 with a 12 clip DVD collection... > Read more

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (Mercury)

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (Mercury)

Although comparisons are odious, you can hardly escape lining up this solo debut by Noel Gallagher (the brains of Oasis?) with that of brother Liam (the mouth?) whose recent album under the name... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2009 Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics: Inspiration Information (Strut/Border)

BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2009 Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics: Inspiration Information (Strut/Border)

A couple of years ago a very generous Elsewhere subscriber sent me some albums in the Ethiopiques series, music of all persuasions from Ethiopia (mostly club singers and jazz on the ones I... > Read more

THE BARGAIN BUY: Toy Love: Cuts (Flying Nun)

THE BARGAIN BUY: Toy Love: Cuts (Flying Nun)

Funny that people say how wild the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks album was. Heard it lately? They sound like a pop band, albeit an angry one, and musically didn't move too far from... > Read more