Modern Love
Song rec: Matt Nathanson - Modern Love
I think this might be my favourite song of 2011. It’s a rare beast: pure, radio-ready pop music that doesn’t descend into bubblegum nonsense. Completely catchy and addictive, but it somehow retains just the right amount of indie edge. (Side note: doesn’t “I burned my house down just to hear them scream my name” sound like a Pete Wentz lyric?)
All that said, I can’t help but find the album of the same name disappointing.
I mean, I love Matt Nathanson. I have all his albums and I enjoy even his earlier material, including his worst sub-Elliott-Smith efforts (‘We’ll Recover’? Totally my jam). His live shows are the actual best. Have the chance to see Matt live? Take it. You won’t regret it.
But far too many of the songs on Modern Love sound like pop music by numbers.
It reminds me of Matchbox20’s Mad Season. Rob Thomas was faced with following the huge commercial success of Yourself or Someone Like You and, in trying to replicate it, he veered towards the middle of the road, creating pop songs with absolutely no depth. ‘Bed of Lies’? It sounds like a power ballad written by a computer program. I get the same impression from songs like ‘Room At the End of the World’ and ‘Bottom of the Sea’.
It’s surely no coincidence that the best songs on Modern Love are the rock songs (Mercy, Queen of Knots) and it is thus a mystery as to why there aren’t more rock songs on the album. Rock-pop has always been Nathanson’s bread and butter and now suddenly he’s intent on going to the pop end of the spectrum? Meh.
Then of course there’s ‘Run’, with its chorus “you’re turn-turn-turning me on”. VOM. That’s a song that makes John Mayer’s ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’ look subtle. Romance-novel lyrics aside, the fact that it’s a song that’s been written as a duet, yet features three vocals is just… weird.
I like two of the album’s quieter moments, ‘Kiss Quick’ and ‘Kept’, but I feel like they lack punch. Nathanson made an interesting comment in a recent interview:
I would love it if someone covered “I Saw.” We didn’t really do that song justice when we recorded it for my Beneath These Fireworks record, and I think it’s a smash.
He’s right. ‘I Saw’ could have been truly great if it had only been punched up a bit (given a more distinct chorus and a memorable climax). I think the same is true of ‘Kiss Quick’ especially. The groundwork’s there, but it never quite builds to the point where you think, “wow, oh my god”.
I think this might be my favourite song of 2011. It’s a rare beast: pure, radio-ready pop music that doesn’t descend into bubblegum nonsense. Completely catchy and addictive, but it somehow retains just the right amount of indie edge. (Side note: doesn’t “I burned my house down just to hear them scream my name” sound like a Pete Wentz lyric?)
All that said, I can’t help but find the album of the same name disappointing.
I mean, I love Matt Nathanson. I have all his albums and I enjoy even his earlier material, including his worst sub-Elliott-Smith efforts (‘We’ll Recover’? Totally my jam). His live shows are the actual best. Have the chance to see Matt live? Take it. You won’t regret it.
But far too many of the songs on Modern Love sound like pop music by numbers.
It reminds me of Matchbox20’s Mad Season. Rob Thomas was faced with following the huge commercial success of Yourself or Someone Like You and, in trying to replicate it, he veered towards the middle of the road, creating pop songs with absolutely no depth. ‘Bed of Lies’? It sounds like a power ballad written by a computer program. I get the same impression from songs like ‘Room At the End of the World’ and ‘Bottom of the Sea’.
It’s surely no coincidence that the best songs on Modern Love are the rock songs (Mercy, Queen of Knots) and it is thus a mystery as to why there aren’t more rock songs on the album. Rock-pop has always been Nathanson’s bread and butter and now suddenly he’s intent on going to the pop end of the spectrum? Meh.
Then of course there’s ‘Run’, with its chorus “you’re turn-turn-turning me on”. VOM. That’s a song that makes John Mayer’s ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’ look subtle. Romance-novel lyrics aside, the fact that it’s a song that’s been written as a duet, yet features three vocals is just… weird.
I like two of the album’s quieter moments, ‘Kiss Quick’ and ‘Kept’, but I feel like they lack punch. Nathanson made an interesting comment in a recent interview:
I would love it if someone covered “I Saw.” We didn’t really do that song justice when we recorded it for my Beneath These Fireworks record, and I think it’s a smash.
He’s right. ‘I Saw’ could have been truly great if it had only been punched up a bit (given a more distinct chorus and a memorable climax). I think the same is true of ‘Kiss Quick’ especially. The groundwork’s there, but it never quite builds to the point where you think, “wow, oh my god”.