Matthew Sweet – Living Things
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Posted On November 1, 2004
Matthew Sweet’s 1991 hit “Girlfriend” came over the airwaves this morning and it sounded fresher than ever. Commercially speaking, Sweet’s never topped that chartbuster, although he’s scaled his share of artistic peaks. In hand now are a pair of albums originally intended for the Japanese market but finally available Stateside.
Kimi Ga Suki * Raifu, recorded in a whirlwind session in 2002 with three of the key Girlfriend album players (Ric Menck, Richard Lloyd, Greg Leisz), churns with immediacy, from power-pop gems “Dead Smile” and “The Ocean In-Between” to the dark, Cheap Trick-like “Spiral” and the acoustic twelve-string jangler “Love Is Gone”. And don’t overlook the hidden song, an untitled, negatively indexed track at the end of the disc; amid Beach Boys-like harmonies, Sweet bids listeners farewell: “Sayonara, I will see you sometime soon”.
Speaking of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson’s buddy Van Dyke Parks is the featured keyboardist on Living Things, a lusher, more ornate affair written during breaks in sessions for the 2003 self-titled album by the Thorns (Sweet’s trio project with Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins). It opens with “The Big Cats Of Shambala”, its dreamy vocals and steel drums lending a sunshiney island lilt, and closes with “Tomorrow”, a twinkly roots-pop ditty featuring mandolin (Leisz) and accordion (Parks).
In between are moments of striking compositional complexity, notably the theremin-fueled chug-rocker “Dandelion”, and melancholy melodicism worthy of Saint Brian himself (“Season Is Over” could pass for a Pet Sounds outtake). In short, with these two releases, Sweet has produced his best work since Girlfriend.
