Matt Nathanson

Matt Nathanson has earned an album’s worth of your time. The San Francisco-based singer/songwriter has been churning out records for as long as you can likely remember, sending you brief but regular updates on his trials and tribulations whether you noticed or not. But he deserves your ear not just because he’s been at it so long, but because he does it so well. The comfort he enjoys in his musical skin is the result of over ten years of work –enough to produce five albums and to live every lyric in them.

Nathanson has already experienced brushed with fame. His music has appeared on the television shows “Smallville,” ‘Dawson’s Creek” and “Road Rules,” and his version of “Laid” by James was on the American Wedding Soundtrack. He has also shared the stage with a venerable crew of artists like Train, John Mayer, OAR and Five for Fighting—so despite the fact that this is his first major-label disc, he already has the experience of a cagey veteran. And, given the length of his accession to the musical fore, he has already developed a large grassroots fan base that will follow his songs wherever it takes them.

The songs on his latest release, Beneath These Fireworks pitch two armies of Matt--one of young, huffing romantics with hearts open, and one surrounded by the love-worn Matts who have been burned in one too many heart-wrecks. The latter are definitely in control; sentiments like “Show me where the sun comes through the clouds/I’ll show you where the rain gets in” in the song “Weight of it All” are in looming majority to mawkish love lines. But besides the pop hooks that soften these blunt confessions, there are also times when he shows his vulnerable underbelly, such as the line - “I forget about you long enough/ To forget why I need to” from the song “I Saw”.

On Beneath These Fireworks, Matt Nathanson awards each of his songs their own identity. Though the beats and melodies aren’t unique at first blush, he infuses them with an acidic sensitivity and intelligence that, almost instantly becomes his trademark. With this combination of catchy tunes and sardonic poetry, it’s a unique blend that rings true to the sappy cynic in us all.

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