Matt The Electrician – Made For Working

Some singer-songwriter types seem to spring into the world fully formed. Their first set of songs captures our imagination from the get-go and they draw comparisons to Dylan, Costello, Waits or Young. Others need a couple of tries to work out the kinks, taking time to grow and find their muse; then they spring their best work on us.

Matt The Electrician is one of the latter. While on two previous discs he’s made some fine music, with Made For Working he’s reached a peak. His songs have a childlike quality, a youthful sense of humor that in lesser hands might come off as downright silly. But his wordplay is deceptively sly and, like the best tunesmiths, his melodies are remarkably direct and simple.

Tunes such as “Diaryland”, “Milo” and “Little Hands” are filled with lyrical wit and the occasional whistle or banjo. On the album’s sole cover song, he converts Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” from a bombastic rocker into a pensive folk song. He may have matured, but you get the sense Matt is never really going to grow up.