There’s enough joy in New Brunswick-based singer/songwriter Matt Andersen’s aptly named The Big Bottle of Joy to fill multiple parade routes or churches. It’s difficult to overstate the ecstatic strains that his nine-piece band, also named The Big Bottle of Joy, delivers. Anderson complements his own talents with the cast he’s assembled, writing the tracks for this exact group of people. His soulful, powerful voice, together with three strong vocalists, is the driving constant throughout. The multi-talented Steve Dawson did the mixing while Andersen produced for the sessions in Nova Scotia. The effort is massive beyond just the band too. Andersen collaborated with a slew of writers for these tunes – Terra Spencer, Carleton Stone, Breagh Isabel, Dylan Guthro, Dave Sampson, Ian Janes, Andy Stochansky, Ross Neilsen, Cory Tetford, Chris Kirby, Clayton Bellamy, Jason Blaine, and Donovan Woods all make appearances in the credits.
The band is drawn from musicians on the East Coast of Canada featuring Reeny Smith, Haliey Smith, Micah Smith (vocals), Geoff Arsenault (drums), Mike Farrington Jr. (bass), Cory Tetford (guitar), Kim Dunn (piano), and Chris Kirby (organ). “Let it Slide” gets us underway, with Anderson telling us not to be so uptight and instead reach out to one another – “Let it go, let it ride, let it slide” awash in the gospel strains of the three vocalists, Kirby’s whirling, rousing B3 and Andersen’s bluesy guitar. The bouncy “So Low, Solo” follows with Andersen’s rich vocal in the forefront, accented by his trio of vocalists on the anthemic choruses.
The three vocalists especially shine on the buoyant “How Far Will You Go.” The love song “Golden” plays at mid-tempo, Andersen’s vocal at perhaps his most emotive of any track, with Farrington Jr.’s basslines underpinning the tune impressively here as well as on the snappy Richie Havens-associated “Hands of Time.” The trio of vocalists ignites the punchy “What’s On Time,’ another funky tune propelled by Kirby’s fiery organ setting the foundation for rather trite but uplifting lyrics at the core of the album’s theme – “We’ve got to learn how to live together/If we’re gonna make it through/We’ve got to learn how to live together/We’ve got a whole lot of living to do.”
Although Andersen was a co-writer on most of these, Terra Spencer is the sole writer for the standout “Aurora,” a rolling narrative that begins in a southern Ontario motel and goes on to namedrop numerous Canadian locales in a road trip romance, imbued by Dunn’s bright piano and Kirby’s lush B3. It’s a tune that has some faint echoes of that other famous Canadian outfit, The Band. Another highway-themed song is “Rollin’ Down the Road,” powered by drummer Arsenault’s delayed back beats and the funky NOLA rhythms of Dunn’s barrelhouse piano, Kirby’s ever-present B3, and sharp guitar licks. You’ll be tempted to crank it up and sing along. “Miss, Missing You” also mixes in the travel theme, simmering down to an organ-driven yearning ballad while the “Keep Holding On” is another intimate, tender tune in a similar mode.
Andersen’s balladry though is best displayed in both the gentle “Only an Island,” and the closer “Shoes.” The former was penned by Stone, Isabel, and Guthro, a song Andersen had heard performed by the band, Port Cities, and fell in love with its message – if you’ve got the right person in your life, hang on to them. “Shoes,” co-written with Donovan Woods, unlike so many others, finds him celebrating a precious night at home, dancing with his lover around the kitchen floor to the soft accompaniment of Kirby’s accordion and Smith’s B3.
The album begins with a rush of power and goes out in a hush. Andersen has delivered as uplifting an album as you’ll likely hear this year or any year even though at times it may seem excessively joyous (if that’s possible). While the lyrics are rather predictable and commonplace like most blues-oriented material, every song is well-crafted with terrific musicianship and soulful vocal harmonies. It’s a keeper.
