Hospital Music

by

Matthew Good

Edit

I waited months to review Matthew Good's previous full length album "White Light Rock and Roll Review" because despite the fact that I knew it was good, I didn't really connect with it the way I did his earlier works. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to make sure my reaction wasn't through an impatience on my part to let the album do its work on me as a listener. I had then, and still have a faith in Good as an artist to bring something new across in his music that exists somewhere outside my expectations. I did have some clue as to what this new album "Hospital Music" was going to be about, as I tend to follow musicians whose work excites me pretty closely. Nothing however could prepare me for what I heard when I first put "Hospital Music" in the CD player the other night. I'm writing this review after having only listened this CD twice in its entirety because I feel as an answer to my last review, I owe it to the artist to try and capture some sliver of the emotional reaction I'm having to this. Indeed, this set of songs and their delivery put "WLRaRR" itself in a whole new light. It's hard to imagine this album being quite so effective had that one not existed. His sound here is raw like on that record (raw like an exposed nerve) but he doesn't shy away from the majesty and drama of his earlier releases either. What makes "Hospital Music" truly transcendent though is the openness and honesty on display. Some of this actually hurts to listen to. Besides being in awe of his craft and his almost singular ability to constantly wrap difficult and intellectual phrasing around instantly memorable and seductive hooks, the allure of Good for me has been in the way he always seems to express how I feel about certain things far better and with more resonance than I am able to myself. Maybe that last part is what attracts me to most music for that matter. This album doesn't do that much. This album is so intensely personal (and specifically personal) that it can be very hard to relate to. However, in denying me that, it actually takes me a step further. It inspires an intense empathy that words frankly fail to do justice, and I can't think of a better compliment to any work of art. "WLRaRR" showed that Matthew Good could do low-fi, songwriter-centric rock just as good as anyone. "Hospital Music" however puts him back on a path of doing the best work imaginable in way that very, very few are able to. It's one of the best rock albums I've heard in ages, and I thank him for it.