Matthew Barber is a new discovery for me. It was our writer Emilio who mailed me and told me to check out this man and his music. So I went to EBAY and purchased a copy as it was released last year and on a MAJOR company (thanks god for Ebay). Musically we?re in the ?typical? Aware-sort of artists. You know ? guys in the late 20?s, early 30?s with a guitar and a young back up band playing clever modern singer songwriterpop. The flood of these sorts of guys is deeper and wider than Mississippi-river these days, but Matthew have a place in the delta cause he?s looking into the Elvis Costello scene from the early 80?s and take these sorts of influences into the music on a few places which I think is fine. The opening ?Little Love? sounds like a young and horny Elvis Costello produced by Ric Ocasek around 1981 and the last one out ?Sentimental Acumen? could have been on the same album from 1981 with a w o n d e r f u l ?pianoplink? driven refrain a?la New Radicals. Another cool song is the title track which instead smells The Thorns sort of retropop a long way. Why not more than three stars then? Two out of these six songs are boring nonsense stuff and that are two too many on an EP with just six tracks. It?s a pity cause the man show some HUGE potential and I?m sure this is just an appetizer from a guy we will hear much more of in the future.
A friend once said "What a Motley looking Crew" - Motley meaning "of great variety" and once describing the appearance of a court jester. The re-spelling of Motley Crue was their own invention; and said to have came to them while they were partying & drinking Lowenbrau beer.
