Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
When a string on the violin of time snaps, and you don’t have another to hand, you either adapt, be grateful that that you other strings to use to your advantage and create something unexpected, or you allow circumstance to dictate and snatch at the certainty of passion, leaving you with faded memories and hopes. When the string breaks, you don’t give up, you play on and confound those that wish to see you fail.
For the vast majority of the world, 2020 and 2021 are moments in time when that certainty was taken from their souls, the day-to-day vagueness and insecurity was only offset by the continuing courage that at some point plans would be remade and adapted, that faith in the human condition would be restored, and until that moment we should take the time to reflect on all we have achieved, have lived through, and what we attempted to ground out the time.
Krissy Matthews is no exception to this uncertainty, what he has done though is collated all the moments that were snatched, removed from his grasp, and adapted to the situation, and in his new album, Pizza Man Blues, he shows that when the door is slammed in our face, we have to come out fighting, to take an axe to that closed entrance and smash our way back into contention.
The hard fought for maturity we all wish for in such times, the experiences we wish to relay to others of how we too fought back, are encapsulated by Krissy Matthews own trials and tribulations as he moves on from the initial beginnings of his career to a place where the experience matters most, where the vibe is from the perspective of a man who has seen and done much with his life.
No matter what you have, you can celebrate having had the opportunity to rise again and seize the means of productive endeavour, to beat Time and circumstance at their own petulant game, and in tracks such as The Man Said No, the superb observation in Anti-Social Media, the outstanding Hairdryin’ Drummer Man, Ride, Carry You, and the sublime unplugged version of Grateful, which features the glorious talent of Layla Zoe and Felix Peikli, Krissy Matthews has brought to listener’s attention a rhetoric of expression that cannot be misjudged, misaligned or misinterpreted, rather it must be appreciated for the sincerity it wishes to be seen as capably displaying, the style it which it is performed and expressed.
Pizza Man Blues has been delivered on time, it is fresh, steaming with positive vibes, and the gratuity dispensed with, for it is an album that has to be heard to be fully loved.
Ian D. Hall