Albums by this artist

Six Kinds Of Passion Looking For An Exit (2005)

The Lateness Of The Hour (1997)

It's Heavy In Here (1995)

Eric Matthews

It's Heavy In Here

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» SARAH RUPEL | STAFF WRITER

Eric Matthews It's Heavy In Here Sub Pop, 1995 RiYL: Jeff Buckley, Morrissey, Harry Connick Jr., Neil Young

It's Heavy In Here isn't music for the masses. You won't hear these songs on this album in heavy radio rotation, you will put them on mix tapes for your friends. The music is a combination of drums, guitars, flutes, saxophones, pianos and trumpets colliding with rich lyrics that reach into your musical psyche and beg you to listen again and again. Matthews' crooning sounds like a mix between Frank Sinatra in his glory days and Neil Young's Harvest Moon. And the songs themselves seem heavily influenced by the big band era of the '20s and '30s -- anything less than six instruments in a song just won't cut it.

"Soul Nation Selects Them" showcases Matthews' dipped-in-honey voice and his passion for writing lyrics that go beyond the typical "boy meets girl" narrarations: "show me the difference / between grief and stone/there's nothing to show, so let's go / and cry another ice cream / if nothing's what you choose to believe in / you've chosen your demon." In "Angels For Crime" Matthews concentrates on what he can't have, as he sings, "you could do without / be like me without / fill another wine," making it sound like the pain behind the song only happened seconds ago.

The singer is able to turn sadness into beautiful music -- but this album requires more than just a first listen to understand the talent that lies within. It may take 10 listens before you realize what a departure this music is from other albums. Once you get there, though, you almost can't imagine living without these songs.

"Distant Mother Reality" is just one of this album's hidden treasures. It is a song that makes you close your eyes and feel like you're floating between the sounds of the guitars and flutes: distant mother reality / nodding in hungry satisfaction/one to one sick fantasy / gnawing from the inside/be good to me.

It's Heavy In Here isn't an upbeat album, but it doesn't wallow in depression either. It's an album to listen to on a long summer drive with the windows down. It's music you want to listen to before you fall asleep, hoping the songs will somehow seep into your dreams.

SARAH RUPEL |