SCOTT MATTHEWS - Passing Stranger

"Passing Strangers" is an album you'll have no trouble slipping into regular rotation, built on a sound that, while indebted to major names like Led Zeppelin, Jeff Buckley and Ben Harper, unfolds across 17 excellent tracks of strong, mature songwriting, full of personality despite the aforementioned reference points.

Scott Matthews's debut actually risked being left out of the pages of Onda Rock; I'd been delighting in his mix of rock, blues and folk for some time, and a timely reissue with an accompanying live set gives me the chance to include it among 2007's releases.

What's surprising about this record is the sheer confidence and mastery displayed not only in the songwriting but also in the arrangements - timeless songs rich with engaging, original harmonies, almost a greatest hits of his musical passions.

Marked by short interludes created together with his Indian friend Namdarhi, the album opens with "Dream Song", a track whose arrangement brings together Arabic music and 70s rock, a worthy heir to Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir". It's an electro-acoustic ballad with an unforgettable, infectious refrain, setting the coordinates for the following "The Fool's Fooling Himself", a gritty rock song worthy of Pearl Jam, even in its lysergic bite.

All of Matthews's qualities as a musician come through in pieces like "Blue In The Face Again", a short instrumental blues with harmonica and slide, or the poetic "City Headache" with its roots contours, accordion and a harmonic progression straddling folk and psychedelia, or "Eyes Wider Than Before", a folk song with a softer, more poetic arpeggio.

But time seems to stand still when "Elusive" comes on: it'll feel like you've known it forever, it'll stop your heart like a punch to the gut, it'll remind you of everything you love and hate about music - namely, the way songs can sometimes go beyond reason itself.

Between one instrumental break and another, the remaining tracks unfold, from the Elliott Smith-esque folk ballad "Prayer" to the pop of "Passing Strangers" to the blues of "Sweet Scented Figure", all the way to the more English and delicate "Earth To Clam", which highlights another of Scott Matthews's loves: English folksingers in the John Martyn mould.

Worth noting is the mini-live set accompanying the reissue: aided by the mysterious "John Leckie String Quartet Section", five tracks are revisited in acoustic form and take on new light, their folk roots emerging with pastoral tones and orchestral arrangements worthy of the finest English tradition.

For completists, we should mention a 7" that, besides the excellent "Elusive", features a noteworthy b-side in "The Wasp And The Jar"; there's also a cd-single that, in addition to "Passing Strangers", offers two recently recorded tracks with a new production team: "Helpless On The Spot", country and blues intertwined over rough, gripping sounds, and "Footprints Forgotten", a gorgeous acoustic folk ballad, full of pathos and sonic refinements, worthy of the Nick Drake of "Pink Moon", especially in its psychedelic finale.

The lucky few who manage to get hold of the cd-single offered by an American record store chain will complete the picture with the most beautiful imaginable version of the Smiths classic "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side", transformed here into a timeless folk-ballad.

The personality that comes through even in the cover version confirms that this is a notable name to keep an eye on - or rather, an ear on - for the future.

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02/12/2007