Rave Magazine - Single review

MATT MCBEATH – The Length Of Your Breath

(Green / BMG)

Voiceover Woman: Normally I'd say something here like "This week, some boy who was born dead with a leg through his chest but ended up jazz-tapping his way to a full recovery and simultaneously curing his foster-aunty's blindness might be going home. Will Matt McBeath's heart be broken, his dreams shattered and all his hopes for the future obliterated violently against a pile of sharp, blood-stained rocks by Nazis? Vote for him in a reality TV contest to stop him dying from shame." But I'm not going to, because listening to how frail and mourning this Melbourne acoustic singer-songwriter sounds, it might already be too late. The Length Of Your Breath is gorgeous, fresh and potentially devastating in its analysis of a post-break-up situation. In fact, its low key honesty might be able to teach me a thing or two. Matt McBeath makes an identifiably real point when he sings about how things were great at the beach, but once he was back in the car with his lovely, things turned cold again. Normally when I talk about beaches, it's screaming about how superhero lifesavers are dramatically risking their necks in wordclass torrential dangerwaves – and I think Matt's method might actually be more affecting. There's definitely potential for heartbreak here, but it might be yours, not Matt's.

The festive season isn't just a time for blatant consumerism, excessive alcohol consumption and explosive family gatherings. That time off, just as the weather hots up and the pace slows down, is also rather conducive to a good ol' fashioned contemplation about the meaning of the silly season, and what's transpired in the year gone past. So when Traffic Sounds decided to ask some local artists of a certain introspective calibre to write and record exclusive tracks for an end-of-year extravaganza that became "I Don't Want Anything For Christmas", what resulted is a very different take on the usual cheesy Christmas record.

In fact each offering is a gorgeous slice of the Australian reality - sure there are the odd sleigh bells in the mix but you certainly won't find themes of roasting chestnuts or watching the snow flakes here. These artists were encouraged to remain true to their own festive experience as well as their own sound - no forced yuletide cheer.

Yet in light of this, we still find ourselves in relatively sanguine territory, from the wry humour of Kid Cornered's 'Dean versus Bing' where "all of the brothers-in-law are standing around eyeing off each other's wife" to the heartwarming ode of a daughter's first Christmas from The Woods Themselves in 'Saturnalia'.

We haven't even mentioned the tunes. Oh the music. If ever there was a reason to be humming Christmas themed songs in April, it could well be due to the gentle persuasion of 'Boxing Day '99' from El Mopa, its languid delivery disguising the beautifully discordant pop melody punctuated with an aching horn breakdown over the guitar solo.

Then there's the ecstatic release of guitars over the minimalist electronic arpeggio of Tugboat's 'Two Summers', reflecting the line "I wake up in the southern sun … there's so much summer falling on me" and transforming it into a stunning swirling pop song.

And let's not forget that the season continues on well past December 25. As Matt McBeath reminds us "I guess it's not the best time to fight as we approach the year's last night" on the lovelorn ballad 'New Year', it's good to keep it all in mind when the first of the first comes around.

So much can be left unsaid at this time of the year, but with any luck, this fine selection of songs with their lyrical brilliance and understated arrangements will find just the right words for you this Christmas.

BEEP2. Available December 2007. Compiled by Leigh Tran. Mastered by Casey Rice.
Launching in Melbourne - Saturday 8 December at Edinburgh Castle, Brunswick. Aleks and the Ramps, El Mopa, Single Twin, Matt McBeath, 8pm.

INITIALS

Window Ledge (9th Division)

Theres an instantaneous feeling of delicate beauty and intimacy that washes over you as simple acoustic chords are plucked and an almost whispered voice draws you into a very personal world. The owner of this world is Matt McBeath and along with his five colleagues, this makes up Initials debut album.

Not always solo, these folk-country tunes do travel varied dirt tracks and inner-city backroads, from the dustbowl Western sound of I Am Gone, to the somewhat sanctimoniously orchestrated South For Summer, piano lullaby Road and the Neil Young-inspired guitar-squall of Two Brothers. Like the pop moments of Gersey or folk of Machine Translations, theres as much a happy and rolling feel to these ten songs as melancholy reflection on fading memories.

(Carl Snatch) Time off