For two decades, Canada’s Matt Andersen, equipped with an impressive, booming voice, has been delivering pristine modern blues across more than a dozen albums. But his latest, The Hammer & The Rose, is a far more intimate collection. Across 10 tracks, Andersen not only tones down the blues and a lot of the fiery solos that have punctuated his previous albums, but with this more nuanced and subdued musical soundtrack, he shares some of his most personal lyrics to date. The result, while not exactly jarring, as there is still plenty of his DNA woven through these songs, is a beautiful detour into intimacy.
The title track that opens the record finds his voice more restrained, but surprisingly, that gives the song that much more power, pulling the focus to the words. “Hold On To Me” is equally subtle, but with “Wayaheadaya,” he opens up his range a bit more for one of the strongest moments on the record, while still not coming off as too overpowering vocally. The restraint he shows throughout the record makes for a much more intimate experience.
That doesn’t mean the album is all mellow introspection. The near-instrumental “The Cobbler” is pure enjoyable funk, (I say “near” because the only line uttered is “Baby, you’re good for my sole.”) While “Tonight Belongs To You,” as an endearing love song up there with Clapton’s “Beautiful Tonight”. The Bluesy “Stay Home With You” is probably the song most in line with his past, but it’s accentuated nicely here, thanks to the bulk of the other tracks being more anchored in folk and roots music.
Even on the two songs he didn’t have a hand in writing, Andersen manages to make them his own. “Countin’ Quarters,” coming at the middle of the record, was written by The Hupman Brothers, a band not well known outside of Canada. Still, Andersen’s aching delivery, backed by a haunting pedal steel, makes for a beautifully lonesome song. And his cover of JJ Cale’s “Magnolia” is just as sublime.
For someone who has built a career around unleashing his booming vocals and ferocious blues guitar, pivoting to a much subtler approach was certainly a gamble. But across 10, often stunning tracks, Andersen perfectly makes the move to a much more subdued collection and manages to turn in one of the best albums of his career in the process.
