Rolling out of the shadows with a fiery guitar-driven groove that only gets hotter as we press on, “Simple Song” is anything but, and it’s a fair taste of what listeners should expect to find around every turn in the new album Live at the Saxon Pub from Matt Smith. Billed as Matt Smith’s World, Smith and his collaborators shred through ten solid jams in this live LP that live up to the Austin setting in which they were conceived and then some, and whether you’re familiar with his work or not, melody-lovers are almost certain to walk away just as satisfied as any diehard fan will be.
SIX STRING RANCH: https://6stringranch.com/matt-smith
The beat takes center stage in “Love the One You’re With,” “Hot Club of Brooklyn” and “Six Degrees of Separation,” and while it’s not the only element of note in the big picture here, the percussive component tends to set the foundation for the majority of climactic moments in Live at the Saxon Pub. It adds a ton of color to the backend of tracks like “Dance with Me” while stirring around in the darkness for “What Wil I Do Without You,” its presence always affecting the greater narrative at hand in some fashion or another.
Bold melodies are never far away in Live at the Saxon Pub; in all honesty, I think “Struggle On,” “Jazzhaus” and “Junkie for Your Love” sound all the more larger than life because of the venue in which they’re being presented to us. All of this content has a very natural, unforced feel to it, exploiting both the chemistry of the band and the undisputed connection the players have with the audience. The entire record aches with Austin energy, which is still a pretty desirable attribute in alternative music these days.
As compositionally contrasting as “Love the One You’re With,” “Walk the Talk” and “Struggle On” might be on paper, there’s a continuity to this tracklist that I was immediately taken with the first time I sat down to hear this record. Everything sounds born of a mighty jam session to begin with, and thus, all the more organic in spirit when it’s being played to us in an environment it was never meant to leave in the first place. We might be living in so-called isolation times, but an album like this has a fantastic way of bringing the chills of a live club show into a pair of headphones.
KKBOX: https://us.napster.com/artist/matt-smiths-world/album/live-at-the-saxon-pub
A terrific encapsulation of Austin vitality and compelling American songcraft of the more classic variety, Live at the Saxon Pub is a must-listen if you’re into smart indie rock with a dirty country soul. Matt Smith’s World start a blaze that comes close to burning out of a control in a couple of spots here, but if you’ve ever heard anything this singer/songwriter has recorded prior to his most recent release, you should be expecting plenty of attitude. The bottom line? This is a quality LP no matter how you look at it.
Jodi Marxbury