Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Sometimes you have to go a long way from home to be appreciated, it never feels right but the journey, the experience only makes you stronger, wiser and perhaps more keen to prove people wrong. If it can work for The Beatles, if they can succeed by working their collective behinds off in Hamburg and come back to even greater acclaim in Liverpool, then it can work for anybody.
Liverpool’s Matt Breen, a true man of music who has opened his heart on many occasions, may find himself on the other side of the world, caught in the bliss of the Australian summer and the workaholic attitude so beloved of those to whom the party never seems to be flowing enough. However, that doesn’t mean his presence is not missed on the cold damp streets of a Merseyside November night, that the charisma that shines in many an old song is not yearned for in the venues surrounding the old seven streets and yet thanks to the modern age, at least his fans are able to keep up with him and with that in mind a reworking of an old favourite song, Not Guilty, is a real smasher.
The trouble is with going away as an artist, the inspiration has to come from somewhere new, somewhere unexpected, it is a real test of character and endurance to be able to grasp the foreign nettle and turn it into a British rose but with the sense of the Merseyside running through his veins, that rose more than appears healthy and fine fettle in the track from the young but sublime local musician.
Not Guilty was and is a powerful and sweeping statement, to be able to offer such candid thought out loud and performed with great sentiment is a huge plus in what the listener or the fan will take with them the next time Matt Breen plays a show back in his home town. It is the sweeping nature, the dynamic riff and cheery undisclosed soul that catches the attention and perhaps in many ways Mr. Breen has never sounded better.
Matt Breen may plead Not Guilty but he is deserving of one form of justice, that he comes back to Liverpool with more songs in this particular vein and get the attention he deserves. A song of classic proportions, full of pumping cool, Not Guilty remains a class act.
Ian D. Hall