Since October, I've been enjoying the first single from Matt Costa's upcoming album, Unfamiliar Faces (see previous post), to be released January 15."Mr. Pitiful" sees Matt Costa shifting from the guitar-based folk music of Songs We Sing to piano pop; whether the rest of Unfamiliar Faces will share in this change is yet to be seen. Though the song is a well-orchestrated piece of pop, it lacks the subtlety of even the weaker tracks on Costa's debut. With songs ranging from "Astair" to "Yellow Taxi" to "Cold December," Songs We Sing resided in a bleak lyrical landscape, capturing the idea that change, even for the better, always leaves something behind.
However the album ends up, I don't think Matt Costa has lost the songwriting ability that I've come to love - he's merely lost touch. He's contributed beautiful, stand-alone tracks to great soundtrack after great soundtrack since Songs We Sing's release in 2005 - I just hope the pop bliss of "Mr. Pitiful" isn't representative of the rest of Unfamiliar Faces.
Matt Costa - Mr. Pitiful [Unfamiliar Faces]
Matt Costa - Acting Like A Fool (highly rec'd!) [Matt Costa EP]
Matt Costa - The Road [A Brokedown Melody Soundtrack]
Pre-order Unfamiliar Faces from Amazon.com
Matt Costa's Website/Myspace
this song is amazing
i wouldn't say that Matt Costa has lost any songwriting touch. If anything he's getting better. Albums are supposed to sound different, whats important is that they share the same songwriting element. Matt Costa just has a natural talent for keeping the composition, lyrical melody, and overall sound, simple, subtle, and interesting. He hasn't lost any of these essences.