CD Review

It pisses you off sometimes. A guy like Matt Wertz, at the tender age of 24, writing and singing songs that make the ladies swoon. It’s difficult to maintain envy, though, when you are singing along to his latest album Twenty Three Places.

A native of Kansas City, Wertz’s path to the stage nearly went another direction—sneaker design. After picking up a guitar his freshman year in college though, it became clear that his calling was a little further up from the floor—the ears and hearts of those who heard him play.

Twenty-Three Places will certainly make the hearts of the fairer sex melt. As adept as Wertz is at the sugary love song, however, he also impresses with tunes that are more complex than you first expect. Each one of his songs is laced with longing; stitches of his voice occasionally jumping out to remind the listener the importance of what he is singing. A comfortable fit for the genre inhabited by contemporaries Howie Day and Ari Hest, Wertz shuffles up the content and the delivery of his songs, mixing sap with substance. “Sweetness in Starlight” and “Red Meets Blue” are choral love letters. “That For You” evokes thoughts, strangely enough, of 80’s rocker Rick Springfield with frightening clarity. The song “Wesley, Why?” evinces the pain of losing a loved one with what are the best lyrics on the album. Throughout, Wertz is able to keep you on your toes without losing his hold on your emotions.

Matt Wertz has already gathered a following, and considering the affability of the offerings on Places, that following should grow. Count on hearing this lucky bastard on the airwaves sometime soon.