By Aaron Schwab
Staff Writer
“Fresh Blood,” the second album from Virginia based artist, Matthew E. White, is a well crafted set of soul-inflected pop. Featuring a warm, full-bodied sound arranged with lush strings, soulful horns, piano, soft vocals and lively harmonies.
Rather than cater to fans with a repeat serving of his first album “Big Inner,” for the follow up he has gone weirder and bleaker, resulting in a record full of beauty but also brimming with uneasy moments. It’s sometimes slick, often uncomfortable in its skin; but never less than compelling.
Drawing from a plethora of influences like Randy Newman, Allen Toussaint, and Alan Lomax, the Richmond, Virginia-based artist Matthew E. White specializes in a blend of reggae-infused folk-gospel, tropicalia, swirling indie pop, and R&B. His debut album for Spacebomb, “Big Inner,” peaked at 19 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart for 2012.
Despite featuring up to 30 musicians playing at a time, “Fresh Blood” never gets bogged down by instrumentation, having been masterfully mixed to allow the listener to hone in and appreciate every last detail. The 10 original tracks of “Fresh Blood” are emotional and satisfying, addressing the moments in life of the middle-point between happiness and sorrow.
Featuring the effortlessly cool and highly addictive single ‘Rock & Roll Is Cold’, as well as the touching Phillip Seymour-Hoffman tribute ‘Tranquility’, Fresh Blood is described as “less of an album, more of a grand seduction” in a 4/5 review by Q Magazine.
“Circle Around the Sun” is an almost desperate sound where White’s vocals take on a near whisper underneath piano chords and light rhythm section. A song about the passing of a friend’s mother, his voice subtly swells as it reaches higher, crooning, “Keep my son and daughter, now put your arms around me, Jesus, like a circle around the sun.”
Contrasting that, “Take Care My Baby” packs lustful entendre within its graceful funk, a flushed White calling to his love. On the heady, blissful “Fruit Trees,” the carnal, the sensual and the romantic intertwine, as White conjures radiant orange trees and “falling cherry blossoms” to tell a tale of wild love running at odds with the world around it.
White sounds his most engaged, raising his voice an octave into a smooth but intense muttering. He never really opens his voice entirely. There are certainly no Sam Smith explosions, but there’s something refreshing about a songwriter who knows his limitations and lets the songs speak for themselves.
All in all, “Fresh Blood” is a superb album, and surely an early contender as one of the best albums of the year. It is a slow burner in more than one sense, and gets better with repeated listens. White successfully melds together a subtle blend of soul, gospel, country and psychedelic pop that slowly burrows its way deep into the heart of the listener.
“Fresh Blood” is currently available in stores and on iTunes for $8.99.
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