Matt Maltese - Bad Contestant
The crooners are back! But not as in the schmaltzy sentimentality of the Great American Songbook, or the cocktail lounge classics. Rather, a new generation of singer songwriters is discovering how a laid-back velvety underlay provides a hard-wearing foundation upon which to weave a carpet of rich irony, with a just a twist of cynicism incorporated into the weft. Leading the way with his own luxuriant tapestry of topical shag-pile is 21 year old Matt Maltese from South London.
A driving bassline opens Greatest Comedian but soon makes way for perky synths and Maltese's observations on the path of true love. Bad Contestant wryly compares life to a TV gameshow, whilst Sweet Sixteen juxtaposes innocence against opportunities already lost. And with each successive song metaphors tumble freely amidst a stream of questioning and investigation.
Maltese successfully straddles the worlds of Father John Misty and Neil Hannan, whilst Nightclub Love and Strange Time share the laconic net cast by the late Leonard Cohen. These are snapshots of life delivered with wry seductive prowess. Whoever thought that pre-apocalyptic copulation could be as delightfully earth-moving as is portrayed in As The World Caves In?
This could justifiably become the new soundtrack to our own Trumped-up, post-Brexit lives.
9/10
