Review: Matheson – These Are My Horses
Mixtape Magazine
Hailing from Ballarat in regional Victoria, a town notorious for bitterly cold winters and clinging to the past, Matheson have burst out of hibernation to release a cracking
debut album.
The 11 songs showcase the songwriting talents and world-class vocals of Aaron Matthews as he traverses through a musical landscape backed by his travelling companions and impeccable rhythm section, made up by Mark Perry on bass and Stevie G. Martin behind the drums.
Sometimes they travel at full-speed, as heard in opening track ‘Let the Satellites Fall” with its driving drums, weaving bass lines and Matthews’ vocals floating over the top. At other times they slow right down to soak up their environs. The perfect example of this is ‘Safe for Now’, one of the most eloquent and beautiful political statements you are likely to hear, with its questioning of our political leader’s continuing involvement in a war that is happening on the other side of the world. This underlying darkness is a consistent theme throughout the album – what superficially seems to be a slow-building ballad – peels open to reveal a crime of passion on ‘She was from the Country.’
‘These are my Horses’ is the sound of a confident band that knows how to hook in the listener with memorable choruses, sweet melodies and great storytelling. Matthews’ voice leaves you grasping for comparison. But it is the pure quality, and perhaps the disbelief that it could come forth from small-town Australia, that may warrant the questioning.