Matt Nathanson
Beneath These Fireworks (2003)

Review by: Michael Walls
Date: 11/15/03

My initial reaction to Matt Nathanson’s press package was negative. It came off as cocky and pretentious. "Irrepressible singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson doesn't just own the stage. He makes it his bitch." Okay…Is that what I’m looking for in a singer-songwriter?

My second reaction to Matt Nathanson came after I actually played his CD for the first time. That reaction was, "Damn! This guy can write songs!"

San Francisco-based Nathanson is no newcomer to the music scene. With six albums in 10 years, he has developed a tremendous fan-base in his adopted town, as well as across the web, and has had songs featured in Dawson’s Creek and Smallville. So maybe he has a reason for some cockiness. He’s been around the block and paid his dues. Self-releasing album after album, playing shows night after night, and relentlessly promoting himself, has paid off in developing a following and his first major label release with Beneath These Fireworks. And now, Nathanson may be facing his first real opportunity to break out of the obscure singer-songwriter world and into the mainstream.

This album is my first exposure to Matt Nathanson, and after a month of continuous spinning, I’m just as enthusiastic about it as I was the first time I listened to it.

What impressed me about Nathanson is his instinctive ability to write lyrically honest songs with some amazing pop hooks. He also projects a sophisticated and seasoned groove, without falling into that hokey and repetitive, John Mayer-style, pop-ditty hole. Compound this with strong, natural vocals, fine musicianship and talented backing musicians – and Matt Nathanson is for real.

“Real” in a sense that he isn’t a carbon copy of what’s popular now, looking to ride the wave to fame. And “real” in a sense that what you’re listening to is Matt Nathanson “the person” who happens to have the talent and ability to actually write music from his soul – while coming up with killer hooks.

He runs the gamut of sounds on this album, from soft acoustic ballads like “Angel,” to bold, melody-driven pop songs like “Suspended” and “Pretty the World,” to daring arrangements like “Little Victories” with it’s backing strings section. But my favorites are “Bent,” “Lucky Boy” and “Sad Songs” – all with a soundtrack feel and catchy lyrics. And even though those lyrics are about loss or bitterness, you’ll find yourself singing along with them.

I enjoyed this album very much, and I am confident that there will be more great things out of Nathanson in the future.

So, as pretentious as it might sound, I firmly believe that Matt Nathanson has the credentials and mileage under his belt, as well as the ability, to “make the stage his bitch.”