RELIC

Matt Stevens

Crossover Prog

3.45 | 13 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

toroddfuglesteg

Matt Stevens is a one man band from England and very active on the live circuit.

..... Hence, I expected a crossbreed between Bob Dylan and Genesis. Nice little cosy music over a Yorkshire pudding and a pint of Sheepdip Bitter in a nice pub together with some middle aged intellectual penguins from the local village.

That is everything this album is not.

Relic is not even a relic. Relic is music wise a heady mix of post rock, math rock, nu-metal, electronica, new age, space rock, jazz and some folk rock. In short; Matt Stevens has created his own universe. An universe more for college and university students than old penguins. This music is performed in a minimals setting with as few instruments as possible. The result is a very open sound where the melodies and the instruments gets plenty of space to breathe. Each tone gets enough air to really make an impact. Fans of Sigur Ros will like this type of minimalism. Matt Stevens distant relatives on Iceland would like this album because it has an Icelandic feel. But this album also dips into the white noise and avant-garde territory too.

The quality of the material is very good. This album lacks a real killer track which would send it into orbit. This is an album that deserve a bit maturing over time and I reserve my right to come back to it and upgrade my review in due time though. That's because there is complex stuff here I may not get when working to a self imposed deadline.

And yes, I would like to pay to see Matt Stevens live. But I would probably exchange the pint of Sheepdip Bitter with a glass of Australian's finest chardonnay white wine. I am sure Matt Stevens has a nice future ahead of him although he is not a Bob Dylan copy.

3.5 stars

toroddfuglesteg | 3/5 | 2011-10-24

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