Matthew Good Band - Vancouver Review

full review

Tracklist:
1) Last Parade
2) The Boy Who Could Explode
3) Great Whales Of The Sea
4) Us Remains Impossible
5) On Nights Like Tonight
6) Volcanoes
7) A Silent Army In The Trees
8) Fought To Fight It
9) The Vancouver National Anthem
10) Empty’s Theme Park

Ranking: #55 for 2009

user rating

4
excellent

Chart.

other reviews

Brandon E.L. Magnuson (5)
That old man in the sky, he's all ice on the outside...

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On 7 Lists

3.5
great

Akbar Jaffry USER (13 Reviews)

2009-10-12 | 13 comments | 478 views

3 of 3 thought this review was well written

Two years prior, if memory may serve, Matthew Good crawled from his knees out of a medicated sickness; his notes outside a hospital sickness documented in the sorrowful and sombre reflection which was Hospital Music. Those derelict melodies echoed through minimalist production and distant acoustic strums, culminating to become Good’s personal statement against a purgatory which he would never want to experience ever again – his own Pink Moon of sorts. Now, then, Good has returned hoisting the looming shadow of his near and dear hometown, Vancouver, bringing with him his discontent at false grandeur and commodification which has brought his beloved city into decline. This is his statement, his message, and as always, its as incendiary and indignant as expected. And with his latest, Vancouver, Good affirms again his song-writing abilities in this his personal elegy to a city he has loved, his melancholic ode to something better which was, to a nasty beast slowly growing a coat of concrete.

But this wouldn’t be noticable by the music alone. One thing which is interesting about Vancouver is that it is a city with one foot completely in the pastoral and one foot knee deep in the mechanical rhythms of the streets and asphalt dreams of the masses. Not being a resident, I could only believe what Good has to say on the city, but it takes a whole lot of moxie and panache to bring this issue to light. But Good has always been one for confrontation and a man critically aware of these surrounding scenes. It has got him in trouble a few times, most notable of which was when he openly berated the state of Canadian music during a radio interview, targeting certain bands such as The Tragically Hip. Often being both condemned and applauded for his outspoken nature. At this point there is a pattern which is easy to see and this is that Good, just like his beloved Vancouver, is a man of opposing ideas who can embody conflicting forces. In no album more is this evident than in his latest, Vancouver.

Vancouver, musically, breaks no new considerable ground for Good, but maintains his lyrical sarcasm which has been so evident throughout his lengthy discography. Instead, Good expands on his grandiose approach to his songwriting which made Avalanche such a remarkable record. Good`s songwriting is as fine-tuned as ever and works again from his formula of swelling choruses and beautifully melodic and atmospheric passages. Still, for those who have been well-versed in Good`s discography, there have been temporary moments which illustrate his ability to move beyond traditional alternative rock conventions and knock at the gates of something truly special and distinct. Songs like “Champions of Nothing” and “While We Were Hunting Rabbits” from his previous solo albms, are ambitious, hauntingly beautiful, and most of all, emotional in every pitch which is true to Good as an artist, as opposed to simply a musician. Still, despite all this, there is nothing here which will disappoint, and all the songs are solid, most of which have been neatly strung together in a consistent ten tracks. The sombre melodies of piano on the single “Last Parade” bring to the attention his disillusionment to his city:

It feels like just another day
Like one more dead town’s last parade
On the shore grinning a hundred feet away
It feels like time ain’t time at all

Good minces no words in his caustic offensive towards the artificial inflation which he has seen swallow around him. And such song titles as “Empty’s Theme Park” and “The Vancouver National Anthem” paint bleak portraits of Good’s disillusionment at the sad state of affairs of a city set to crumble internally. The former, “Empty’s Theme Park”, is easily the best song on Vancouver as it makes perfect use of string arrangements which dominate much of the ambient atmosphere throughout the entire album. Other notable mentions include the post-punk bass-driven “Fought to Fight It”, and the intimately beautiful “A Silent Army In The Trees”, which again reinforces this uncertainty as Good reflects that “Never Thought I’d live to see the day I’d be/ Afraid of little kids in the streets” and then with his poetry in all its black and white, “A muted whale out in the streets/You watch the stage but burn the seats”. “Great Whales of the Sea” is a clear illustration of Good’s experimentation with the conception of abstract sounds, as the first few moments of the song are, as the title indicates, the sounds of whales singing. This is emblematic of the direction of most of the record that it tends to prefer to emulate the ambition which made Audio of Being such a messy and remarkable record. The one difference here is that, whereas the previous record was inconsistent, Vancouver is very consistent and concise.

Yet, this is the one shortcoming of Vancouver which makes it seem less than what it could be. Good’s song-writing is still leaps and bounds above many Canadian song-writers, or any song-writer’s for the matter, but he still seems dependent to the overtures of traditional alternative rock conventions while his ambition is put to use in disappointingly tame methods. There might be a few reasons for this. Firstly, this is the last album Good is contractually obliged to record for his current label, and so it might be an elegy both to his past as a song-writer and, specifically, to his beloved city. Since, also, Avalanche was such an emotional and thoughtful record, Good found it more therapeutic and enjoyable to write a more arena-rock record which manifested in White Rock and Roll and Review. Just as that record was somewhat a regression from Avalanche, Vancouver is also a slight step-back for Good as a song-writer, or a direction in something more light-hearted given the dark and nihilistic nature of his lyrics. Or perhaps he endeavoured for something less intimate and melancholic after the confessional Hospital Music. Vancouver, then, becomes a baffling record of a social statement with saccharine and radio-friendly swelling choruses – which is more of a shortcoming than an asset.

Still, as the world squeezes its balls in agony, digging its own grave, Good and his litanies remain. Amidst a city bursting inward in flames, Good still sees what most won’t. And in this remains the true power and significance of Good`s continuing presence in the industry. Good has once said, though, his favourite record of all time is Laughing Stock – and most devoted of fans might have the daydream that Good is capable of a record of such beauty if he were to really aspire to. Still though, fans are left here with the sanctuary of the latest, which is as good as one could expect from an artist of Good’s mettle. Yet now Vancouver patiently sways in wait of the cold to sink, the cold to fan the flames of a city that might be on its way down to demise as Good sings on the streets alone, writing madrigals on his sleeves, raising a glass out of the stink, he sings now and you can hear if you listen close:

We all live downtown
We all die downtown
Step over ourselves

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