I can’t believe its been seven years since The Tallest Man on Earth, aka Kristian Matsson, released Shallow Grave. Matsson came out of the gate sounding like a youthful Dylan. The follow-up, The Wild Hunt was solid but mostly similar to Shallow Grave. I slowly lost interest in TMOE which tends to happen with me and singer/songwriters. Frankly speaking, his third album, There’s No Leaving Now came and went, barely registering on my radar.
So when Dark Bird Is Home was announced, I shrugged it off. I don’t even think I clicked on the email to hear the first track. It wasn’t until the combo of a Shirk text and a Strand of Oaks tweet hit me that I decided to give this album a spin. And holy smokes, was I blown away?
I won’t Dark Bird is Home to Dylan going electric at Newport; but I will use his good friend Tim Showalter as comparison. I believe that Tim, aka Strand of Oaks, fully found his voice when he brought in a band. That allowed Tim, and now Kristian to use sonic palettes that prior were left unused. Helping Matsson flesh his sound is HearYa favorite BJ Burton, the man behind taking Stu McLamb of The Love Language from bedroom project to full realized band,
The album was born from the ashes of Matsson’s divorce. Needless to say that life on the road is tough on performers and their families. Field Report dug into that on his latest, Marigolden and Matsson doesn’t shy from that either. That lends the album to starting off under a dark cloud and slowly coming out of the fog. The slow build leads to the time tested adage, what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.
The three songs in the middle are the heart of the album. Little Nowhere Towns beings with just a piano melody and Matsson before a backing vocal arrangement makes a cameo, taking the tune to another level. Sagres is an unadulterated pop melody that Matsson & Burton handle wonderfully. It is the tune that is Matsson’s personal phoenix and that is followed up by Timothy, which I can only hope was inspired by Showalter.
I expected this album to pass me by with no fanfare. Instead it has become one of my favorites of 2015.
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The Tallest Man on Earth is here.
