Tag: Matt Harlan

Review: “In the Dark” by Matt Harlan and Rachel Jones

 in New releases, Reviews

By Paul T. Mueller

harlan_darkIn the Dark marks a couple of changes of direction for Houston-based singer-songwriter Matt Harlan. He’s now part of a duo; his musical partner and wife, Rachel Jones, has contributed to previous projects, but this time she gets equal billing on the CD cover and a much-expanded vocal role, of which she’s more than worthy. And his songs are more about poetic abstraction – images and feelings – than the narrative of such earlier efforts as “Elizabethtown” and “Old Allen Road.”

Case in point: In the title track, nothing much happens except some sitting – in a bar, at home – and watching the night give way to the day. The stylistic shift might be frustrating to fans of Harlan’s storytelling skills, but there’s a place for quieter, less linear songs as well. Harlan and Jones are good at this kind of thing, using their understated but expressive vocals as a vehicle for Harlan’s literate lyrics. All of it is supported by his excellent guitar playing and contributions from some talented guests.

The album’s only song not written or co-written by Harlan, “My Mother’s Song (at Seventeen),” does feature a narrative of sorts. Written by Steve Dodson and Danny Jones, it’s a dialogue of conflict and reconciliation between a parent and a child. “You look at me and disagree,” Jones sings, “and shake your head and sigh.” Guest vocalist Allison Fisher replies, “The thing that you don’t understand is – we sing a different song.” Later they harmonize on a conclusion: “The thing that you don’t understand is – we see a different light.”

Time is a recurring theme on In the Dark. “Move Slow” envisions “every day [as] a gift from somewhere else” and admonishes us to seize the day: “Just imagine all the time we’ll never get to dance out in the thunderstorms.” “Strangers on the Hill” laments the passage of time (“Simple story: Time drifts by”) while casting a critical eye on how we choose to pass that time: “Obligations, tensions high: trying to live like the strangers on the hill.”

Time and change also figure in “Mozart,” which closes the eight-song set. “Mozart will always be Mozart, just like disco will always be dead,” Harlan sings, but in contrast, “as long as I’m living I’m changing, with each drop of sweat that rolls off of my brow.”

Matt Harlan and Rachel Jones share production credit; contributors include Tony Barilla on accordion and keyboards, Steve Candelari on drums and Willy T Golden on lap steel.

Review: Matt Harlan’s “Raven Hotel”

 in Reviews

 harlan_raven_160by Paul T. Mueller

Houston-based singer-songwriter Matt Harlan isn’t one of those musicians who puts out an album every year – his last was released in early 2012 – but you can bet that when one does finally show up, it’s worth the wait. Raven Hotel is an excellent showcase for Harlan’s writing, playing, singing and production skills.

The album’s second track is titled “Half Developed Song,” but that may be a little inside humor (it’s actually about getting past everyday obstacles and getting on with life). There’s nothing half developed about any of Raven Hotel’s 12 songs. All are carefully written, skillfully played and sung. Clean production, for which Harlan and Rich Brotherton share credit, makes the most of them.

The title track deals with the struggle to maintain human connections in a busy world. “I’m living in my own world now, you can stop by if you like,” Harlan sings, “ ’Cause I’ll forget to call and I’ll forget to write.” Even more personal is the love-is-tough theme of “We Never Met (Time Machine).” “Well, it’s hard to be your lover, and it’s hard to be your friend,” goes the second verse. “When you don’t offer no forgiveness, it’s a game nobody wins.”

In “Second Gear,” a father’s instructions to his child during a driving lesson (“Drop it down another gear/The roads are slick this time of year”) turn into larger life lessons (“You’ll find a higher place that you can climb to/Just leave a trail to show them where you’ve been”). “Burgundy and Blue,” a sweet love song, marks a departure from Harlan’s usual folky style – it’s done as a jazz ballad, backed by the smoky tenor sax of John Mills.

Harlan’s wife, Rachel Jones, gets the vocal spotlight on “Riding with the Wind,” an ode to freedom that Harlan has said was written with her voice in mind. She also contributes nice harmony vocals on several other songs.

Other members of the all-star cast Harlan and Brotherton assembled for this project include Bukka Allen on organ, piano and accordion (the latter used to good effect on “Old Allen Road,” a dark tale of implied violence); Maddy Brotherton on violin; Floyd Domino on keyboards; Glenn Fukunaga on bass; Jon Greene on drums, and Mickey Raphael, best known for his long association with Willie Nelson, on harmonica, best heard on the wistful “Slow Moving Train.” Brotherton, who’s the longtime lead guitarist in Robert Earl Keen’s band, contributed on guitars and several other stringed instruments, as well as synth and vocals.

 

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Review: Matt Harlan’s “Bow and Be Simple”

 in Americana Music, Reviews

By Paul T. Mueller

–Ever wonder where songs come from? At a recent in-store performance at Cactus Music in Houston, Texas singer-songwriter Matt Harlan described the genesis of one of the best tracks on his latest CD, Bow and Be Simple. Headed east toward Louisiana early one morning, he watched the sun come up in a profusion of colors. The sky reminded him of the colors surrounding a black eye, Harlan said, and from the bright colors of that sunrise he built “The Ring,” a dark song about a violent marriage and its sad consequences.

This is the kind of sharp observation and literate writing that make Harlan’s songs such a pleasure to listen to. Folky, but with a little Texas twang, Bow’s nine songs, most either written or co-written by Harlan, are brought to life by his gentle, expressive voice. They also benefit from the skilled backing of The Sentimentals, a Danish band with which Harlan has performed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Harlan tours a lot, with and without The Sentimentals – guitarist MC Hansen, bassist Nikolaj Wolf and drummer Jacob Chano. So it’s not surprising that many of his songs focus on travel and movement. “I walk humble and patient/Along down the road/And I search for the truth/In the stories I’m told,” Harlan sings on the title track. Fittingly, the CD was recorded in Denmark at the end of a tour last fall.

“Too Much Going On” is a nice duet in which Harlan and vocalist Rachel Jones lament the busyness that seems to get in the way of getting anything accomplished, while “Darker Shade of Grey” looks at what makes the world work and concludes that too often “it’s the darker things that get the moving done.”

The road shows up again in “Simple Song.” At his Cactus show, Harlan said the song started out as his attempt to write a hit song about things like beer and trucks, but ended up being more about the process of trying (and failing) to write that song. “I tried to write a simple song, something closer to the truth,” he sings, before later acknowledging, “But I ended up just ramblin’ on… Ain’t nothing changed… nothing’s changed.”

The traveling goes vertical in “Elevator Ride,” in which Harlan sings, “Headed to the office on the 22nd floor/You know my head is getting dizzy, I stumble through the door.” For many of us that’s just another day at the office, but for a musician it’s surely a nightmare. Guitarist Hansen’s ominous chords form an oppressive backdrop to this slightly over-the-top tale of the middle-class grind.

By contrast, the deceptively named “The Easy Road” is about those unwilling or unable to follow the straight path to financial security. For reasons both external and internal, the song’s three subjects are having a tough time getting by, never mind getting ahead. “[T]he easy road has taken us for granted,” each concludes. “Seems as though we’ve taken it the same.”

Hansen’s “Baby Blue” is the one song on the CD not written or co-written by Harlan. At heart it’s a kind of roundabout love song, but its lyrics wander from stars and rain to a house on a hill to “a dead skunk on the highway outside San Antone.” The playing is pleasant enough, though, and includes some nice harmonica from Harlan.

The CD closes strongly with “Long Ride Home,” essentially a love song, but one made a little sweeter by the loneliness of the road. “You’re a ghost in every room that I sleep alone,” Harlan sings. “Smiling at the end of every long ride home.” Bow and Be Simple isn’t an especially long ride, but it’s a sweet one.

Matt Harlan (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)