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Passing Stranger
03/05/2008 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Rob O'Connor
With a voice he describes as “one of those voices that tends to send people to sleep,” Wolverhampton, UK’s Scott Matthews has actually been waking people up with his songs of deep quietude. His ballad “Elusive” won ‘Song of the Year’ at the Ivor Novello Awards and his debut album Passing Stranger is packed with tunes (17!) that linger near the mellow end of the songwriting pool. He’s earned the ubiquitous “sounds like Nick Drake” tag, along with nods towards Cat Stevens, Tim Buckley and other ‘70s soft-rock loafers. However, tracks such as “Earth To Calm” and “White Feathered Medicine” with their lightly orchestrated accompaniment and excellent use of vibraphone, deserve to be judged on their own “Scott Matthews” merit. “The Fool’s Fooling Himself” arms Matthews with a rocker for the tougher crowds, but Matthews’s proper grounds would be the unassuming quiet nightclub where people can kick back a few drinks and let the soothing aura take over. It’s always 3 a.m. somewhere.
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