I am the recent recipient of a wonderful gift, my son, Matthew, has just released a new CD and he left one on the table when he was in town with his band to do a show in Chicago. I opened the CD one morning and took one look at the inside cover artwork and was immediately appalled. The drawings on the inside of the CD were in my opinion, pornographic and inappropriate. I was immediately turned off and put the CD down. I did not listen to it on that day, not for many days actually,....I did not understand.
Several weeks later, at the end of their tour across the country. Matt's band was again in Chicago and I had the opportunity to go to see him perform live in a bar in downtown Chicago. I usually don't venture out to these types of situations, but on that day, I decided to support my son and see what this was all about. On the way downtown, my younger son, Mike, popped the CD into my player and we listened to it in the car on the way to the show. I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the music. I promised myself that I would write a review of his music from my personal perspective....his mother. It should be interesting. I don't know if I will ever understand it completely, but I do know that music is very personal and that I can hear my son's lament in the words and tones of his music. About this, I will attempt to write on this blog.
The first impression that I have is that the music on this CD cannot be compared to any other music that I have heard. There are many sounds that come through the speakers and the way they flow together is just part of who my son is. Matt has always taken sounds...like the horns from the traffic in NYC to the birds chirping in the back yard and blended it into his music. The "music" is a mixture of his own inner rhythms, drum beats, chords, sounds, and clanking radiator pipes. Some critics have likened the music to jazz, and there is some of that feel to it. It also is a noisy blend of sounds, instruments, chords, and irregular beats. I resonate with it as it sounds a bit like my own irregular heartbeat. Matt has always, since he was a very young child, been able to put sounds together in interesting and unusual ways. I admire this talent of his. Some of the music is not easy to listen to. Some of it is loud and dissonnant. Some of it is jazzy. Some of it is sweet and pleasant. All of it is Matt and his fellow band members, expressing their own sound, their own way. Some of it I don't understand, but I do find it interesting. My favorite tune is track 8, "The Masks". I' ll speak of that later. I am no music critic, however, but I do appreciate the artistry and the poetry of this album.
The first few lines of the CD are softly sung by my son as a lament for the lack of " things" in his life...in fact the entire CD is a lashing out and a frustration against the draw of material "things" in his life. He sings:
Fill my pockets FULL
maybe if I prayed the sun would shine for me? take away all the things that trouble me?
Fill my pockets FULL
my fridge with food to eat?
but I don't have the time.
I believe that Matt is struggling to survive, literally, to have enough money to pay the bills, buy food, and have a roof over his head. Somehow the things he wants to do in life have become attached to the need to have enough...enough of the "Things" he needs. He doesn't want to "sell out" to the media...to the materialistic world and compromise his music, his style, to be what the world tells him to be. Somehow prayer doesn't seem to be a priority to him...or maybe there is not enough FAITH there, to accept that God will and does provide. He has and He will.
As I said earlier, I interpret this whole CD as an outcry against the materialism of this world. Even the distasteful inner packaging with the pictures I find so outrageous are a wrap up of the whole SEX, MONEY and PACKAGING, that it takes these "things", false pretenses, outward signs, money, to survive in this world. The pictures have a certain "shock" value because when you open the CD you don't expect it. It also sends a message that the material within will be something "enticing" when it is not about that. "This" is really about "That". It always seems to work that way.
In God's word we find almost the very same message: 1 Peter 3:3-4
Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles,
expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes.
You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within,
the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which is do precious to God.
I'm sure my son will cringe as I compare his lyrics to Bible verses, but I did make a connection there and this is where I am at in my life. I especially felt this message on Track 3 where the lyrics speak of the
blackest of the berries lie closest to the ground the weight of their
juice brings all the branches down
the best form a pillow for the rest to fall down
on and on and on and
THEY'RE USING YOU!
as a rung
each step a fleshy one
the bees are just there
to scare you.
As I attempt to interpret that in my "motherly" manner, I perceive the "blackest of the berries" to be the best and the juiciest ones. These end up on the ground and the rest of the berries land on top of them. The line "THEY'RE USING YOU!" makes me think that the song refers to being good, either good in your soul, or good at what you do, and having others use you for their own benefit. The "bees" that fly around and annoy and scare you, but don't really do you much harm.
These "bees" could be little small annoyances that can get you down, scare you, but really don't do you any harm. It's the other berries you need to watch out for! I'm not sure that I have it right, but it is an interesting thought. As I mentioned, this is interesting music with thought provoking lyrics.
On track two, "The THINGS", Matt writes of the way the large "Things" in life overtake you slowly without really noticing the changes.
The THINGS
you don't even notice slides in all glacier like. you like the
moment that catches on like a grease fire.
But it breathes down your backhand whispers in your ear
and tries to tell you
things
tell you THESE things
Perhaps the "THINGS" he is referring to is that inner knowledge of how to handle the things of the real world. How to get things, how to manage things, how to achieve things, how to know what life is all about. It is that illusive knowledge that we never realize we have...like we think someone else is so much smarter about life than we are....we waste a lot of time trying to get somewhere that we fail to see how far we've already come. We want to get things...but we look past what is in front of us! I think I understand that feeling. The "THINGS" are the secrets of life that we cannot really figure out. Matt's lyrics continue:
the parents of your parent's parent's parents know
THESE THINGS
the children of rich men know
THESE THINGS
THINGS this big move so slow you can't tell they
move at all.
As Matt's parent, I for one have not figured these "THINGS" out. Perhaps Matt thinks we have things figured out...but we don't know anything, really. For me, being able to give my uncertainties up to the God of my understanding, helps me when the "THINGS" are just too big for my little human brain and body to process. Some things are just too big for us to know. I think the lyrics also refer to a larger than us reference:
I've seen the moon get bright and act like a searchlight looking for all the things
lost in the night, looking for the dead men stuck to the river's floor,
looking for reasons, looking for reasons, looking for...
Perhaps the moon and the searchlight are metaphors for a God...I'm not sure...perhaps just for man searching for reasons....constantly searching.
Daniel 2:22
He reveals deep and mysterious
things
and know what lies hidden in
darkness,
though he is surrounded by light.
Maybe I have the answer that works for me, that helps me understand. Perhaps I don't. I believe that Matt is still searching and hoping that there is a "searchlight" out there looking for reasons.
Track 8 is by far, my favorite. It is a soft, sweet tune and the words are beautiful. Matt's singing is clear and emotive. I like that. This song speaks of coming into yourself and feeling comfortable in your own skin...knowing your true authentic self.
you got my time if you want it you got my faith too, to do this
we'll build a home in the space around us
no matter how small the room
then your act becomes true
the masks melt down
It is really a love song, too....about a love so deep that you can be your true self in that place you share together.
You can only act so much when a love gets deep.
I don't know why this song touched me so...perhaps I am just so mainstream that the soft sweet melody and the pretty lyrics just touched me. I hope you'll take a listen to this song. http://www.skeletons.tv
One other song on this new album is worth mentioning as well. I think of it as a "HOPE" song. I am a big fan of hope. I always find something to be hopeful about. This song is called "STEPPER" and is track 4. It has a great rhythm and interesting lyrics as well. It really speaks of keeping on in the face of continual struggles. All he hoped for was a big box of "Normal", but never got it. Instead he says:
I don't even care if I bump into whatever's near I'm gonna keep moving!
I'm not one to give up you know me better than that!
I'm working!
I need that check at the end of the month.
I'm gonna keep moving!
I'm gonna get paid enough to survive so I quit complaining for once in my life.
So he's going to keep moving forward, working hard, getting by, I just hope he doesn't lose sight of the joys of the here and now. It was fun to be in Chicago and to see all of the young people who came to support him and his music. Many of his friends from childhood who are still in the Chicago area came to the show. It was a great moment, a reunion of sorts, and I think we all need to stop and relax and just be in the moment. I saw my son do that as he performed his music...lost in the sounds and the production of it. It was a good moment for me to see as his mom. For me, seeing him in his element, was a "sunflower moment"...one of those rare moments when you can see that things are as they should be, for the moment, and you can enjoy something different just for what it is.
So, if you want to listen to something very interesting and musically its own rare breed, feel free to visit their website. Skeleton's "Money" has been released by Tomlab.
(Hey, Matt, know that I love you and that I don't really understand what it all means, this is just my take on it. I enjoyed it! Take it for what it's worth but not too much too heart.)
