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CD review: The Tallest Man on Earth ‘The Wild Hunt’
The Tallest Man on Earth
‘The Wild Hunt’
(Dead Oceans)
Grade: A
“There is a crow moon coming in where you keep looking out,” Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth, sings to begin his latest release, “The Wild Hunt.” With the nasally rasp of his voice, and the folky, literary bent of his lyrics, Matsson has drawn comparisons to the early work of a certain famous American songsmith from Minnesota.
When it comes to both content and style, the similarities are strong. The album is mostly Matsson and his guitar, and the songs generally fall into the realm of folk-infused blues, but there is something about the music that pushes him beyond categorization as a knockoff. The fact that it’s hard to say exactly what that is that distinguishes the music is part of its charm. Perhaps it is the way in which Matsson subtly plays with rhythm—a pause or a quick little staccato run in conversation with his guitar—that helps define his character. He is his own showman, and on tracks like centerpiece “King of Spain,” he sings with an intensity that feels at times as if he’s addressing each of his listeners personally.
He’s also a bit of an impressionist, weaving together abstract lyrics to paint a vivid picture. On “Love is All,” for example, he tells the story of a soured romance, singing “now spikes will keep on falling from the heavens to the floor/the future was our skin and now we don’t dream anymore.” Like Bon Iver, the Tallest Man on Earth doesn’t necessarily need his lyrics to make too much sense, as they are only one part of the equation.
The Tallest Man on Earth plays Sunday at 10 p.m. at Stubb’s BBQ (inside). Tickets $10-$12.
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