Matt Kerekes
Luna & The Wild Blue Everything
Matt Kerekes reminds me of all of those so-called Alternative Rock bands that clogged up VH-1 with the heartfelt ballads emotively sung with sad eyes and fists softly pounding on knees. Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, The Verve Pipe – those guys. Hell, one song on Luna & The Wild Blue Everything (“Canvas”) sounds almost identical to Filter’s “Take a Picture.” It would all be a little nauseating if it wasn’t for the sweet, rosy-colored glasses of nostalgia that make those sorts of songs, once loathed, suddenly sound kinda sweet.
Kerekes, who also heads up post-emo/indie band Citizen, isn’t breaking any new ground with this batch of well crafted low key songs about growing up, but he’s made a very listenable record. The kind of record that many soft hearted souls are going to find their hearts in. “My Lucky #3” is that song that would win the room at a coffeehouse open mike and make you feel infinite, and “Direction” has a brilliant cameo from Anthony Green, but “From None” is the real pinnacle here. It’s the tipping point on this feel good about feeling bad collection of solemn songs sung so sweetly. It’s the song 17 year old me would have put on a mix tape, for sure.
This album would have killed back in 1997 and, guess what, that era has been making a resurgence so, you’re right on time, Matt Kerekes.
