By Paul T. Mueller
Best Beasts marks the return of Houston-based singer-songwriter Matt Harlan after a couple of years’ hiatus from writing. The subject matter of this fine collection seems drawn from recent events, on personal and public levels. Love gone wrong is explored in “K&W,” a dark country ballad narrated by two voices, Harlan’s and that of Kelley Mickwee (The Trishas), and the sad “Somebody Else.” “Like Lightning” and “Mountain Pose” look at the resilience that helps us get through hard times. And the process of starting over, older and wiser, informs the bluegrass-tinged “Darla Mae” and the horn-driven R&B of “Gemini Blues.”
Harlan addresses wider concerns in the opening track, “What We Saw,” which checks off such topical subjects as celebrity sex scandals, tainted water and school shootings. Hurricane Harvey, which devastated many parts of Houston in 2017, serves as a metaphor for judgment to come in “Low Pressure,” which laments the destruction caused by “Old Testament Rain” but warns, “We’re bringing fire next time.”
Harlan’s characters often seem lost in a world controlled by more powerful forces, struggling to get through another day and trying to find meaning and purpose that may not exist. To his credit, he doesn’t claim to have all the answers. “We’re just trying to be the best beasts we can be,” he sings in the title track. “And find a way to sleep, don’t dig too deep.”
The 13 tracks on Best Beasts, all written or co-written by Harlan, are anchored by his confident and expressive singing and his excellent guitar. The collection also features an impressive cast of contributors, drawing from the top levels of Texas Americana: vocalists BettySoo and Libby Koch, guitarists Paul Ramirez and Caleb Pace, bassist Glenn Fukunaga, drummer Mike Meadows, violinist Warren Hood, pedal steel player Will Van Horn, and keyboardist Stefano Intelisano, to name but a few. Producer Rich Brotherton, longtime lead guitarist in Robert Earl Keen’s band, does an excellent job of weaving these diverse contributions (including his own on guitars and other instruments) into a clean and cohesive whole.