Ack Phhht!

Sunshine Lies

I don’t really follow Matthew Sweet that closely, so I didn’t realize he had a new record out until I saw it at the music store last weekend. It’s called Sunshine Lies, and he’s streaming three tracks off his MySpace page for it, two of which are heavy rock tracks that don’t interest me much, and one a pop song called “Byrdgirl” that I rather like.

That’s sort of how it always goes for me with Sweet – his songs generally fall into a couple of groups, and while I love his power pop tracks and ballads, I find his heavy rock tracks rather dull and boring. Meh, each to his own. But I suppose that’s why I’ve never really gotten completely into him, even though almost every album I’ve heard by him has featured at least a handful of tracks that I absolutely love.

Kimi ga Suki * Raifu

Although Girlfriend is generally lauded as Sweet’s masterwork, I tend to think it’s a bit overrated. My favorite is actually the quasi-obscure Kimi ga Suki * Raifu from 2003, originally a Japan-only release recorded in a couple days as a “thank you” to the fan base there. The fast writing and recording cycle that the album went through served Sweet well – there was none of the overproduction that marred some of his records. And despite the rushed pace, the songs don’t sound rough or unfinished – in fact, the harmony vocals on “Love Is Gone” are as beautiful as any he’s done. The list of great songs on this record just runs on and on: “The Ocean In-Between”, “I Don’t Want To Know”, “Warning”, “Wait” … it makes you wonder if maybe Sweet shouldn’t always record this way.

Anyway, I’ll probably pick up the new one and give it a shot. If nothing else, it provided an excuse to pull an old friend off the shelf and give it a spin.