Friday, April 18, 2014

Matthew and the Atlas – A Band Review

     A very music savvy friend (Bob G.) recommended that we listen to Matthew and the Atlas. He noted, “It would be hard to place this band as being from Britain - you might think Southwest [United States].”  
      But looking into it more closely, the chain of events makes sense. If you’re one of the founding members of a band that explodes with the force that Mumford & Sons did, it is reasonable to look into a mechanism that allows you to work with and promote other musicians and bands with whom you relate. So, Ben Lovett co-founded Communion, which is "an artist-led organization for publishing, promoting and producing music." Actually, Communion was founded in London in 2006, well before the M&S explosion, but Communion didn’t have much international traction that was pre-explosion. Further, it is reasonable that if you are Ben Lovett, you are going to appreciate bands having characteristics in common with your band. Enter Matthew and the Atlas.

     The Matthew portion of the band name is Matthew Hegarty. Without question, our current favorite by the band is “Pale Sun Rose,” but that may change as more songs become familiar to us. For example, Bob pointed to the song “Into Gold,” which effectively uses sustained guitar notes at the start, some smooth guitar riffing in the middle, and some energy banjo work toward the end.
      “Into Gold” by Matthew and the Atlas


      “Pale Sun Rose” by Matthew and the Atlas


      “Everything that Dies” by Matthew and the Atlas - at least to us, the vocalization within the first minute has much in common with Kings of Leon.  

1 comment:

  1. Don't forget about their earlier releases, like "I Followed Fires" and "I will Remain." I think their earlier releases might be my favorite.

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