Review Summary: Come tomorrow and try it again…
Dave Matthews has undoubtedly left his mark on kids and adolescents of the nineties (not me, I was busy jamming that underground punk and poorly produced Scandinavian metal). He inspired myriad of yougsters to pick up a guitar a play those three chords that qualify as rock. Now he is back, or rather everpresently reappearing, with a new and unexpectedly fresh album.
First single and the opener, “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin)”, came as a surprise to me. First, I was surprised Dave was still active, and second, I was surprised by its quality. Admittedly, my initial reaction was rather indifferent, but Dave’s coarse vocals, the sweet tangling guitar solo towards the back-end of the track and the overall pleasant melody made me come back to it time and time again, until the tentacles of its grower power engulfed me completely and I loved it. And single after single, the same effect came into power. “That Girl Is You” is a cheesy, silly tune with Dave desperately and with mostly awkwardly trying to sing in falsetto. But that too grew and revealed its charms and the grinding vocals showed that they are actually calculated exercises in unconventional oddity, rather than an uncomfortable attempt to revitalise what is clearly lost. Same goes for “Again and Again”, which is another straightforward, simple and primitively written, but effective and fun rock song.
And if nothing else, that is the album’s defining trait and its strongest aspect: the fact that Dave can write 14 songs long album, where every single cut seems like it is supposed to be off-putting, but ends up engrossing and enjoyable. Songs like “Can’t Stop”, “Come On Come On”, “Do You Remember” or the aforementioned singles sound as though they lack a certain punch to their choruses, yet they always manage come around and deliver a driving energy and (hate repeating myself) growing atmosphere. On the other hand, you can also find plenty of soft soul-healing ballads like “Here On Out”, “Virginia in the Rain” or “Black and Blue Bird”, as well as hip jams (or whatever kids say these days) like “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin)”, “She” and “Come Tomorrow”. Sure, the album is filled with cheesy, one-note lyrics about love, attraction, affection and persuasion, each of every kind, be it unrequited, dismissed, successful or simply vaguely enthusiastic.
And such is the state of Dave Matthews Band, a 50+ year olds making ballads about ‘getting the girl’ and ‘having a girl’ and ‘that girl they like, but is unreachable’ for your dads and uncles to tear up to and say something like “Someone out there knows how to make good music still.” And there is truth in that grumpy, gruntingly voiced statement, for Dave Matthews still is a professional musician. And even though his music might seem calculated and packed with sameness, who’s to say that that sameness cannot be enjoyable?
