Matt Southern: Tender is the Knife: ★★★ | Honeyguide Collective | March 22
Sometimes you just need sturdy strums, bleary pedal steel, and a declaration of hopeless romanticism, such as on Matt Southern’s “Cannonball,” which finds the Raleigh musician declaring that he has “Always been a dreamer / Eyes open or closed / Can’t fix the fever that keeps me wanting more / Got a heart like a cannon, heart like a cannonball.”
Knock it back with a shot of whiskey, and it’ll get you where you need to go.
Tender Is the Knife, Southern’s eighth album and fifth not to feature his band Lost Gold, is defined by this kind of pleasant utility. On his latest, the prolific rocker—performing largely as a one-man band apart from a couple of drum tracks, some backing vocals, and the aforementioned pedal steel—never truly distinguishes himself from the bigger names that come to mind listening to these nine songs (The Black Keys and Wilco, for instance). But while the highs aren’t especially high, the lows don’t dip much lower, with each song more or less scratching the itch it seems intended to scratch.
The album is somewhat front-loaded, starting with a quintet of lively, cleverly arranged songs that shine brighter than the sedate ballads that close out the nine-song collection.
It never gets better than opener “Vampire,” a grinningly menacing blues-rock romp that ratchets its way through stomping drums and guitar and electronic rhythmic embellishments, ably mirroring the jealous rage that froths uncontrollably in the lyrics. “The hunger takes me / I’m just a vessel / Fever burns up all good inside of me,” he moans, unable to keep himself from attacking: “All of the beautiful people / Want to drink their blood.”
Southern flexes impressive versatility on the album’s front half, offering rootsy, ramshackle garage rock on “City Rats,” a relatable anthem about loving your city but also wanting it to be better, and dreamy psychedelic pop on “Ring of Fire Monk,” which recounts a mind-altering encounter with a person who is distributing literature and also humming Johnny Cash in downtown Asheville.
The record loses momentum in the back half, with slower songs that sound largely the same.
With patient strums and eerie echoes in the distance, “Uncontested” comes across as a determined ride through a range of regrets—“The road is lined in white fangs / Patient in repose / As soon as you are sleeping / Feel the jaws begin to close.” The warm singing and fingerpicking of “Winesong” echoes both the beverage’s inebriating effects and the comfort of a loving partner to drink with: “I’m so glad you’re here with me / Always been my favorite company.”
Come to Tender Is the Knife looking for solid DIY rock, no more and no less.
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