Matt Stevens - Echo

Ok, so after my TFATD review, people asked me, so who  Matt Stevens is. Well, let me introduce you. He's a UK guitarist. He's one of the artists who's taken new media and ran with it. Interesting how the more viral and digital music gets in distribution, the more important the live show becomes, and he seems to be one of those. Play live and get your mp3's out there. I think I must've connected with him on about 7 different social media platforms.I've had the opportunity to see him live from his living room on ustream, and also to have a number of his demo tracks, but he's been a busy man, and he recorded his debut album:

 

So, back to the music. If you're into Rodrigo y Gabriella and dual guitar playing, this might just be your thing. The only difference is that he is a "live"-loop guitarist, meaning he "dubs" and "layers" guitar tracks while  he plays live, by using a sampler and all the controlling happens by foot-pedal. Really really cool for the technophiles. And this allows him to play like a one man band.

Now again, back to the music. The difference between him and Rodrigo y Gabriella would be that his sound is way more European, and with lots more jazz, with nice modular runs and changes. He seems to get inspiration from Latin to rock, but has found himself a cradle along the lines of guitar jazz/lounge/rock. On an acoustic guitar.

With songs like "Flies in the basement" rock is more pronounced but with "Moondial" the more trippy elements of his compositions come through. It's amazing how much percussion and sound variations are available from a single guitar. If you like instrumental guitar music, but with structure and direction (looping forces this upon composition), this is your thing, since he doesn't blindly noodle on these numbers like jazz guitarists have a tendency to do.

To more critical appraisal: What Matt does better, in my opinion, than a Rodrigo y Gabriella outfit, is that he can compose songs that run off the back-beat and the bass beat, or front foot and back foot, like I like to put it. "Flies in the basement" runs of the front foot, having a driving Latin/Rocock sort of feel, where songs like "Spencer Park" reverts back to a bit more loungy, though not slow, back foot feel. With Rodrigo y Gabriella - and I love them - they seem to have one Latin beat that only changes tempo. Matt changes tempo and rhythm quite comfortably, literally moving his songs from genre to genre.

One criticism I might have is that he seems to rely heavily on certain licks and hooks, which you'll find dispersed through most of his songs. One notably would be a quick arpeggio out of the minor to start a song. This is  very effective in giving your lead some oomph, but to me it seems like he could do well to maybe employ more variation. His melodies are rock solid, but the connecting licks seem limited in variation. Hearing him play more drones would be interesting. However, you would need to listen as a guitarist to hear this.

Now to a point of personal preference on his lead playing. Like Eric Clapton he seems to prefer hitting each note, where I am a big fan of hammer-on playing, with the left hand doing all the work, probably more like an 80's guitarist. Having said that, the note plucking comes from the tradition of blues-playing, where in order to be heard over the other instruments, blues guitarist had to literally pluck the strings hard. This was evident in the playing of Leadbelly etc, but has since become a style of playing. A lot of Matt's sound is from there, it seems. Also, I would love to hear him play lead fingerstyle, for a softer string sound - but I digress, these are simply thoughts. I'm not here to produce, but to review.

Conclusion: It's time more musicians started being this fearless. This is a great album. If you're not into jazz,  this might just be the backdoor in. Accessible, yet distinct, a niche in the music market, I suggest you go and grab this album at the link above. And then you SA people: petition Rashad Lombard at the Cape Town Jazz Festival to bring Matt over!