16 August 2023
Artist: MATTHEW RYAN JACOBS
Who: A singer/songwriter from Kitchener Waterloo Ontario, CA.
Incorporating everything he loves into his sound. From Delta Blues
to alternative rock, to singer songwriters like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.
New EP: THE TROUBLE IN ME
Jacobs about the EP: “The EP took a bit of a different approach than my last one.
My last EP ‘Living in Between’ had a bit more of a blues influence, and a few tracks that
weren’t really single material but added a cool element to the overall EP. With The Trouble
in Me I wanted it to be difficult to pick which songs to release, I wanted each one to be able
to stand on its own.
There is definitely more folk, and I don’t want to say pop, but pop elements to this one;
and that could just be because the songs are better. Lyrically there is a consistent theme of moving on, getting older, and getting over some poorer choices from the past. At points it can very dark, but I think there is plenty of optimism to balance it out. Once again, everything was recorded by Ben Kempel and myself, and mixed by Ben.”
TUTV:: This is Americana romanticism performed the Canadian way. Melancholic, sincere, tender and telling/singing real-life stories. A lot of singer-songwriters/crooners, now and then, such as Matt Bernigner, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, Dylan, and many more do not write about the birds and bees, no, they look in-and-outside of their hearts and souls, they register the accompanying emotions and most of them conclude that life isn’t a walk in
the park, as we all experience(d) one way or another. Primus inter pares, Nick Cave even went so far, after investigating the pitch-black side of his mind, that he wrote an album full of murder ballads.
Mind you, Jacobs doesn’t go that far but also looks back and forth, scanning his life from
an introspective point of view. For example, Street Lights is about the inescapable fact that ‘in the end we’re all going to die’. And the title track is about keeping your individualism and not changing who you are to fit whatever people think you should.
He embeds his feelings, reveries and meditations into bittersweet slo-mo tunes, beautifully arranged and grippingly orchestrated. When acoustic and gently weeping electric guitars, a warm 60s-sounding organ and subtle piano play meet each other,
you’re not far away from dreamland. And last but not least there’s Jacob‘s impassioned
and arresting voice, completing the sonic collage he painted here.
Listen/enjoy.
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MRJ: Instagram – Website