okay, let me preface this review by saying that i am a HUGE matthew ryan fan. the first album by him i bought was 2000's EAST AUTUMN GRIN which was a brilliant fucking album. probably one of my five or ten best of the decade. i dont feel he's matched the quality of that sophomore album (his debut is equally fucking awesome) since then but he's come very close (2006's FROM A LATE NIGHT HIGHRISE). and even his last album, 2008's MATTHEW RYAN VS. THE SILVER STATE, had some brilliant moments despite his desire to assert (for some reason) some garagey persona that doesn't suit him.
anyway, i have a really high opinion of him as an artist. but this album falls prey to the tendency he revealed on FROM A LATE NIGHT HIGHRISE to utilize a very predominant casio-esque keyboard element to the nth degree and thereby annoy the shit out of me. i mean i get it: he used to have the benefit of a fairly major label to provide studio musicians (i assume) and a generous production budget (never underestimate the value of a really good producer). i understand the contraints he's under as an independent artist. but, still, way too much cheap keys. or at the least they sound like cheap keys. so the album fails miserably from a production standpoint.
the songs are generally weak when compared to his previous, amazing body of work. i'm talking lyrics and arrangements. very simplistic and overly verbose/repititious. there is one truly great track here, however -- "some streets lead nowhere". the song has lyrical depth, a dramatic musical build-up and crescendo...just a great fucking song. one of his twenty best tracks if i was counting (yeah, his past work is that impressive). it really stands out on an otherwise unexceptional album. don't get me wrong, the typical artist would be very happy to have written these songs. they are good generally speaking (except "ps"...what a stoopid song) but not at all noteworthy or memorable when you compare them to all the other great songs this guy has written.
i dunno, maybe my view of this album is being colored by my sudden hatred (not really) for mr. ryan. you see, my ex has this annoying sychophanthic fascination with this fucker. before we finally broke up, she was down on her knees at every post he made on Facebook. drove me nuts. what a douche. both of them.
anyway, this is a pretty good album by most measures and you probably will enjoy it quite a bit. but given the previous work he's done, it's a big disappointment. at least for me. whatever. go buy it.
Rating: 5/10 (in relative terms)...8/10 in absolute terms. go figure...
p.s. -- i think this album should re-titled DEAR LOVER, I HATE YOU. just my opinion...
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