Sometimes a single song captures an album’s essence — and
\nsometimes that’s even a good thing.<\/p>\n
A clean-cut pop-rock singer-songwriter in the John Mayer \/ Evan
\n& Jaron mold, Matt Nathanson is nothing if not mainstream. That
\nsaid — here I go again, folks — there’s nothing inherently wrong
\nwith a pop song if it’s well-crafted and finds a way to stand out
\nfrom the crowd. (And let’s face it, on a major-label debut that was
\npreceded by four independently released discs, you have to expect a
\nlittle mainstreaming.)<\/p>\n
On
\nBeneath These Fireworks<\/i>, Nathanson’s songs distinguish
\nthemselves via a quiet, penetrating intelligence rather than any
\nsort of flash. While his crisp acoustic guitar work anchors the
\nsound here, his supporting players add enough electric punch in the
\nmostly full-band arrangements to sustain interest all the way
\nthrough.<\/p>\n
About that special song, though\u2026<\/p>\n
After the pleasant acoustic intro “Angel,” the band kicks in
\nwith song number two, “Suspended,” and you get the big picture of
\neverything that’s appealing about Matt Nathanson. To wit: an
\nintelligent lyric, clean production, steady acoustic rhythm guitar
\n(12-string, from the sound of it) under a nimble electric lead, an
\nexcellent chorus hook and a clever vocal approach. (Nathanson
\nspeeds through some lines here and draws others out for emphasis,
\nslipping in a falsetto syllable where it’s most meaningful.)<\/p>\n
There’s more worth mentioning, though. “Pretty The World” and
\n“Curve Of The Earth” are a pair of strong mid-tempo rockers with a
\nphilosophical edge that’s typical of Nathanson’s cerebral approach.
\n(A creative, introspective Jewish guy with a tendency to
\noverthink\u2026 hmm, the appeal is getting clearer by the
\nsecond.) “Bent” is another winner, setting regret and recrimination
\nto soft, jangly chords that redeem it with beauty. And “Lucky Boy”
\nhas its moments weaving insights like “you’re the excuse that I use
\nwhen I want to stop trying.”<\/p>\n
My favorite track here, though, has to be “Little Victories,” a
\nstripped-down, eloquent little life lesson that reads like a poem
\nand sounds like magic (“I’ll be awful sometimes \/ Weakened to my
\nknees \/ But I’ll learn to get by \/ On little victories”). Very nice
\nstuff.<\/p>\n
If there’s something lacking here, it’s an edge. This is
\nmainstream stuff, smooth and sure, a bundle of inward-looking songs
\nabout love and relationships that are both inoffensive and largely
\nunsurprising. The intelligence and artistry Nathanson pours into
\nhis lyrics and vocals are what make this album rise above a certain
\nblandness that creeps into his sound before it’s over.<\/p>\n
When all is said and done, this is a solid disc full of
\nwell-crafted songs delivered with care and conviction. Just don’t
\nexpect any real, er, fireworks\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7126],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38265","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-matt-nathanson","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38265"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}