Album Name: When Everything Breaks Open
Artist: Matt Morris
Year/Label: 2010 / Tennman Records
[Buy at Amazon]
Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds
I first heard of Matt Morris when I got an email telling me that he’d be on Letterman and I should watch. I did watch and I really liked what I heard. So I was happy to receive his CD in my mailbox just a couple of days later.
It’s nice to hear someone do something different, stylistically, for a change. He’s not rock, he’s not jazz, he’s not emo or country(thank god) he’s just good. But he’s also kind of a mixture of all those things. Then add a little Connick or Bublé and you’ve got the idea.
He’s got a soulful voice that’s brimming with emotion. He can sound sweet and plaintive and can also wail and quake. He reminds me vocally at times, of Gregory Douglas. Especially on the track, Bloodline. (not the vocals so much, but the style of the song).
Let it Go strays into Jeff Buckley territory. I was very happy to see him do the fabulous Hallelujah on the Hope for Haiti Special (with Justin Timberlake whom I like more every time he graces my television). As I’m sure you know that song is Jeff Buckley’s sort of claim to fame and while no one can even come close to touching what he did with that song, their version was gorgeous.
The songs here are well written and interesting in a way where they go where you don’t expect. That’s always a welcome thing. I love the key changes and use of minor keys.
The instrumentation is just as intricate and interesting as the songwriting and draws me in even though I’m not a musician.
Money is the song he did on Letterman. Really cool and maybe even my favorite. Though I hate to site my favorite track as the “single”.
Well, either way, this is a great album, and you should get it.
* as luck would have it, it’s on sale cheap on Amazon right now.
Track Listing
1. Don’t You Dare
2. Money
3. Love
4. Bloodline
5. Live Forever
6. The Un-American
7. Let it Go
8. You Do it For Me
9. Just Before the Morning
10. In This House
11. Forgiveness
12. Someone to Love You
13. Eternity
14. 100,000 Strong
