Paul's Choice:
The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
So, Folk is a genre I don’t know much about. The only reason I chose to review this album was because someone mentioned The Tallest Man On Earth on /mu/ as one of the nicest artists he or she’s ever met after a show. Curious, I checked out his Myspace and gave him a listened and enjoyed it. And typically, unless there is a specific album I’m looking forward to, that’s how I pick an album to review. But anyways, let’s get to the actual album…
Unfortunately, guitar is not my forte so I’m going to describe the instrumentation on this album in layman’s terms. Um, it’s AWESOME. Kristian Matsson is one of the most talented guitarists I’ve heard. Every song is filled with extremely complex, um, guitar-playing-skills and is really quite pleasing to the listener. I think the only song lacking amazing guitar playing is the closer, “Kids On the Run” and while it does drag on a bit (You have to do something amazing to impress me with just a piano and vocals), it’s a great way to close the album. So essentially, two sounds make up the album: Matsson’s guitar and Matsson’s voice. To be honest, if you can’t get past his voice, I wouldn’t really blame you. It’s very different from the norm and in a sense whiny. Personally, I like it. It reminds me of Jeff Mangum (hipster’s delight!) so if you dig Neutral Milk Hotel I don’t see why you wouldn’t like The Wild Hunt. Alright, now everyone hold on to your knickers because this is something I don’t think I’ve ever said before: THIS ALBUM IS TOO SHORT. Barely. If Matsson was able to produce just fifteen more minutes of good quality songs, I would be okay with it. However, I would rather have an album too short than three more boring songs so all in all, I am okay with this. At just under 35 minutes, I sat around a few extra minutes to listen to the top of the album again. If you’re not sure about this sort of music, I recommend you go to his his Myspace and listen to “King of Spain”, if you enjoy that you will absolutely love The Wild Hunt.
Unfortunately, guitar is not my forte so I’m going to describe the instrumentation on this album in layman’s terms. Um, it’s AWESOME. Kristian Matsson is one of the most talented guitarists I’ve heard. Every song is filled with extremely complex, um, guitar-playing-skills and is really quite pleasing to the listener. I think the only song lacking amazing guitar playing is the closer, “Kids On the Run” and while it does drag on a bit (You have to do something amazing to impress me with just a piano and vocals), it’s a great way to close the album. So essentially, two sounds make up the album: Matsson’s guitar and Matsson’s voice. To be honest, if you can’t get past his voice, I wouldn’t really blame you. It’s very different from the norm and in a sense whiny. Personally, I like it. It reminds me of Jeff Mangum (hipster’s delight!) so if you dig Neutral Milk Hotel I don’t see why you wouldn’t like The Wild Hunt. Alright, now everyone hold on to your knickers because this is something I don’t think I’ve ever said before: THIS ALBUM IS TOO SHORT. Barely. If Matsson was able to produce just fifteen more minutes of good quality songs, I would be okay with it. However, I would rather have an album too short than three more boring songs so all in all, I am okay with this. At just under 35 minutes, I sat around a few extra minutes to listen to the top of the album again. If you’re not sure about this sort of music, I recommend you go to his his Myspace and listen to “King of Spain”, if you enjoy that you will absolutely love The Wild Hunt.
Friend Rating:
9.0
Hipster Review:
I'm just going to be blunt here: There are a plethora of singer-songwriter-folkie artists these days that all meld together. They do little to distinguish from one another (if at all), and they all copy from the same handbook with no real spark of inspiration. In my honest opinion, apart from their passion of playing music (which in some cases can be nothing more than airheaded pretension), there's no real reason for them to even be around. However, I'm not so cynical to truly believe that the art of good folk died with Dylan's glory days; there are a number (a small number, but nevertheless) of musicians that take the genre and make something inspired and truly wonderful (one artist you should check out for example is Spencer Garland... but I digress).
Swedish musician Kristian Matsson, under his moniker The Tallest Man On Earth, has apparently been making this kind of Folk music for some time now, and The Wild Hunt is my first exposure to him. And boy, does he know how to do it right; the lyrics are wonderfully crafted and delivered in a sensitive yet powerful Dylan-esque croon (I hate comparisons from other folk artists to Bob Dylan, but honestly sometimes it just can't be avoided), and the gentle, beautiful music is carefully arranged in such a unique way that Matsson makes the sound completely his own. And the album is at the perfect length; the 34 minutes that rush by allow the listener to appreciate the album without suffocating or boring them. Like I said before, there's only a few true Folk artists out there that are worth your time, and I'm happy to say that The Tallest Man On Earth is one of them.
Swedish musician Kristian Matsson, under his moniker The Tallest Man On Earth, has apparently been making this kind of Folk music for some time now, and The Wild Hunt is my first exposure to him. And boy, does he know how to do it right; the lyrics are wonderfully crafted and delivered in a sensitive yet powerful Dylan-esque croon (I hate comparisons from other folk artists to Bob Dylan, but honestly sometimes it just can't be avoided), and the gentle, beautiful music is carefully arranged in such a unique way that Matsson makes the sound completely his own. And the album is at the perfect length; the 34 minutes that rush by allow the listener to appreciate the album without suffocating or boring them. Like I said before, there's only a few true Folk artists out there that are worth your time, and I'm happy to say that The Tallest Man On Earth is one of them.
Hipster Rating:
8.4
Coming up on Sunday, Brothers by The Black Keys!
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment