Matthew Good – Vancouver
October 6th, 2009
Universal Music Group
Score: 6.7

Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Matt Good has released his fifth solo album Vancouver. After his last outing in 2007′s Hospital Music, we see that Good is taking us on a journey from where he was to where he’s going. Home. Where else would be more fitting for a homecoming album than the town you grew up in? Just when you thought you’ve seen the full dark side of Good’s persona, he seems to take you further down the rabbit hole. This darkness seems to spring up from an emotional tie to the mystical Canadian city. Watching the city as a young boy, Good has seen it slowly deplete into a broken village. This granted enough substance for Good to take on his new project. Like the fall of Jerusalem was the impetus for Jeremiah’s Lamentations, so must the urban desolation of the Downtown Eastside area in Vancouver be the impulsion that drove songwriter Matt Good into a state of lament. Telling the next chapter in his journey, Good aptly named his work Vancouver.

Matt Good’s Vancouver itself seems short. Petite, if you will. The compiled ditties are enveloped in earthy sounds wrapped in pop-like rhythm. For those that are looking for a dynamic album where Good pushes his limits, they will be in an elevated state of disappointment. Vancouver sadly stays in one similar tempo only branching out a couple times throughout its entirety. This makes for a good album to listen to if you’re one that worries about speeding while driving. The lullaby-ish tune of the final track ‘Empty’s Theme Park’ flows as the album’s conceptual track; breathing air into the nostrils of what seems to be a deflated soul. The surprisingly long nine-and-a-half-minute song gives meaning to the rest of the album’s venture by lyrically acknowledging the past and the present, giving Good his much needed thesis. Though the rhythm is subtle, the lull of an orchestra’s undertones renders it more comforting than boring. The vocal contribution to the washboard of musical mysticism is no surprise. There’s still the classic vocation of Good’s vocals that suggests he records his music in front of two air conditioners and an osculating fan.

Good has a knack to conjure up a sort of lyrical tea that compels his listeners to keep sipping away beyond the sentiment of content and Vancouver is no different in that regard. Colourful lyrics touch canvas to paint the picture of Canada’s West Coast culture allowing you to see and feel what Matt is bearing witness to throughout his journey. And yet Good throws a curve ball into modern writing. You may find Vancouver to be a double-edged sword. At one end a message to those that choose to venture past their potential, at the other a poetic onslaught we can only assume are his life experiences. About sixty percent of the album is geared toward the listener. The other forty seems to fall into the category of a sprawling journal entry. There seems to be no real feeling of recruitment to stand up for a specific cause. Though there is sadness in the tale of one city, there doesn’t seem to hold enough hope for reformation.

Vancouver allures you to believe there is an ever growing hope to hold on to in this tragedy. But alas, the album feels more like the Capitan of a sinking ship reviewing his past failures and blessings before his final falter leads to demise; all the while dreaming of moments in his life that quench his need for relief as he exhales the last of his content into the ever darkening sea. Good just plain doesn’t seem to bring enough of the tracks to life. Don’t panic. There really is no need to purchase a defibrillator. You’ll just ruin your CD that way. Though the album is furnished with solid imagery and a stable perception of urban cultural impact, the composition as a whole may leave you feeling inconclusive.

Adam DeMoor

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