Matt Costa, the lovable musician that’s an entity of Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, came out with his fourth full-length album last week on Valentine’s Day. The self-titled album deservedly received warm criticism following its release.
Matt Costa’s approach to this album was entirely different to his previous albums. Although his 2010 self-produced Mobile Chateau was hailed as “gorgeously garage-sounding album with organic percussion instruments, crackling tube-driven amps and jangly guitars cascading in every direction” by AllMusic, Costa figured he would test his boundaries and be ambitious with his music.
Envisioning a rootsy folk-rock sound for Costa’s new album, the process of writing and recording turned “folk-rock” into a little something of his own. Last.fm quoted Costa saying, “The songs started morphing and twisting and taking on a more mystic sound.” With that new “mystic” sound, his self-titled album was produced.
The album seems to be more reflective of Costa’s emotions than his previous recordings. Many of the songs can certainly be classified as love songs. Whether you prefer a good ol’ love song or not, Costa has a way of twisting the emotions of the lyrics with his pre-disco-era orchestral pop sound of Electric Light Orchestra into something completely new and different.
Costa steps out of his norm when his modern vocals are mixed with a sort of folk-rock style guitar on songs like “Laura Lee” and “Silver Sea,” which culminate to make very unique sounding numbers. The perfect combination of upbeat and mellow beats makes listening to the album start to finish very smooth.
“Loving You” unexpectedly opens with classical violin and eases its way into an upbeat love song. Most of the tracks on the album are very similar sounding, which differs from any of his previous releases. It may be due to his “new style” in which he tried to incorporate in every song. Costa’s fourth track on the album, “Good Times,” carries a sound similar to that of the Black Keys and their unique voice distortion, while Costa’s vocals resembled that of a Bob Dylan track.
The album continues with “Eyes For You” where Costa’s slow yet tranquil lyrics match perfectly with his blend of piano and acoustic. Costa’s vocals compare to that of a Bon Iver type with genuine emotion in his lyrics. The types of instruments used in Costa’s album range from orchestral trumpets and violins to harmonicas and acoustic guitar. This makes Costa’s new style seem quite impressive and versatile.
If you are at all interested in alternative rock or folk-rock then Matt Costa’s newest self-titled album is a must buy. Costa pulls together a range of instruments with his reserved, tranquil and, at times, upbeat vocals to find a nice balance in each song.
I appreciate Costa’s boldness to step outside of his normal sounding musical influence and create a masterpiece. There is still hope for the folk-rock fans out there. Costa is a prime example of an artist that can blend together classic folk-rock with his own modern twist. Based on the new and impressive sound of this album, it is very likely that this is just the beginning of a very exciting new genre of music.
Critic’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Dan Banks can be reached at daniel.banks@spartans.ut.edu