Album Review: Something Blue

Matt Hay’s Something Blue is a simple album; a slow, relaxed pace, and soothing storytelling vocals. Opening track Last Jubilee is perhaps the most upbeat in tempo, with a melody reminiscent to that of John Mellencamp’s Jack & Diane with an extra open string twang to it from the combination of the guitar and mandolin.

The 12-track album is a true compilation. With no real consistent theme throughout the album and a variety of instrumental technical levels depending on the track, Something Blue is a true mix of old and new songs.

Whether the slower ballads of Somewhere I’ve Been Before, All I Need, and Too Much to Ask, or the medium paced Long, Long Day, or Love You So, there is a song that will likely appeal to many a mood. With drums, keyboard, percussion, bass, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, and vocals, there is always a risk of creating a cacophony of sound, but Matt Hay and his band The Makers have a minimalistic strategy using particular instruments to accentuate certain sections (such as the great bluesy solo in She’s Right).

There is little else to say, it is a simple layered composition often with members switching between instruments (there are some great vocal to harmonica transitions), and there are some on-point harmonies from Clint Meech and Phil Hope on the backing vocals. It gives the effect of a band that has played together for so long that they don’t have an actual back catalogue of songs, they just pick up their instruments, pick a key, and let loose.

Unpretentious and inoffensive, Something Blue is an ideal release for unwinding in the evening.

_{Review written by Alex Moulton}