The ability to capture one person’s emotions is quite a hard achievement. A whole crowd of people is damn near impossible. Scott Matthews manages to break that boundary. His onstage presence is something that only a few lucky musicians have and uses it to his full advantage.
It was quite a shock to enter a sold out gig with every spectator absolutely silent. Throughout the whole gig there was only one or two mutters from the audience and the obvious banter and clapping. This could have been down to the pure fact that tonight was going to be something special and we were all in for a cheeky treat.
Going by Scott Matthews debut spanking album ‘Passing Stranger’, it’s pretty clear that the guy has an impeccable voice and some intellectual song writing. But could the fella kick out the jams live? Yes he bloody well could. There was no question as to why Scott Matthews had record labels foaming at the mouth when they stumbled across him, he is just a natural born talent. In a soppy non-manly way I will admit that Mr Matthews has a niche charm about him, making him a lucky candidate for us reviewers. In between songs he would go off on a tangent, jokingly talking about voices in his head and explaining how much he “faff’s”. This “faffing” involved getting his levels just right, getting the guitar sounding unreal and just making sure everything was how he wanted it. This was not done in a bad way obviously.
This was the second date of his eleven show tour, by his performance having no faults, it seemed as though he can just pick up a guitar and play a stunning song without even thinking about it. Normally the first few venues on a tour are abit of a warm-up, it was clear to see that Scott doesn’t need one. Tonight’s performance was a one-on-one, performing without a backing band he managed to single handedley put an immaculate performance together. I’m not sure as to the reason why this gig and if the rest of the tour will be a solo effort, but apparently that night the drummer was doing the merch stand. Poor drummers, they get treated so badly.
The set featured mostly his new material, obviously spreading the word about his upcoming release ‘Elsewhere’. Although as Scott pointed out himself during his set that this was abit of a strange idea to “do a tour, then release the album”. The new songs seemed a little darker than ones off previous album ‘Passing Stranger’, having a new mixture of emotion, frustration and love. For some of the new material you couldn’t help but think “what would It sound like with a few more instruments”, the album has been described as having harps, pianos, string sections and even Robert Plant featured on the song ’12 Harps’. These would suggest making a fuller more atmospheric sound. Usually you hear a band, hear them live, then they do an acoustic version of it, so you know where every part is and can sometimes hear the part without it actually being there. Having said that the showcase of the songs came across as a more complex Mr Matthews, by playing some intricate guitar parts and harmonious chants. When watching him play you escape into the music, it’s kind of hypnotising, I think at one point I didn’t blink for around five minutes. Which was pretty random.
Vocally a lot of critics and fans compare Scott Matthews to Jeff Buckley, you can definitely see why. By using his voice as an instrument he follows the guitar parts and uses them as a harmony, kind of like Matthew Bellamy. This alongside complicated guitar playing and some simple foot tapping made his set something special.
Some of the old tunes where played off the album “Passing Stranger” in immaculate fashion. Track seven off the album named “Passing Stranger” funnily enough was delivered along with some warming harmonica instrumentation that added a new approach to the song and his live set. Probably 90% of the crowd where waiting to hear his haunting single “Elusive”, and he surprised us all by playing it out of the blue. Just tuning up his beautiful acoustic he gently finger picked some nice melodies before strumming that opening riff.
Scott Matthews seems to be one of those artists that will come and go every few years providing some brilliant albums. You get the feeling that if you don’t see this guy live then you will regret it for a long while. Catch him at one of his dates and look out for ‘Elsewhere’ at the end of June.
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![Scott Matthews - Fractured [EP]](http://hangout.altsounds.com/file.png)
Scott Matthews - Fractured [EP]
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Scott Matthews [Live] @ Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
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