The Sentimentals

Texan singer-songwriter Matt Harlan hasn’t made it to our little island yet, but when he does I guarantee he’ll rapidly become an audience favourite and thence, a regular visitor. Matt has already captured Europe having toured there annually in recent years, and last autumn the Texan recorded his sophomore solo album in Denmark supported by touring companions/local combo The Sentimentals. The latter trio, formed around eight years ago, has similarly supported the legendary Dana Cooper and the estimable Jonathan Byrd on tours of Scandinavia and Europe, and is composed of solo recording artist in his own right MC Hansen (acoustic, electric guitars, lap steel, harmonica), Jacob Chano (drums, percussion) and Nikolaj Wolf (bass).

The making of BOW AND BE SIMPLE turned out to be something of an impromptu affair, with eight of the songs being recorded on the final day of August last year. Matt’s Long Ride Home, which in all probability planted the seed for this collection, was captured in a Copenhagen studio during Harlan’s late 2010 Danish tour. In the role of songwriter Matt’s name is appended to eight titles, three being co-writes, while the ninth selection is a cover of Hansen’s ballad Baby Blue. The latter tune appeared on Hansen’s (triple disc set) TRILOGY 3 (2011), and, as with most of BOW AND BE SIMPLE, MC’s rendition of Baby Blue was recorded at Real Farm Studio on the island of Møn near Copenhagen. The album opens with the gently-paced title song, one man’s uncomplicated assessment of his attitude to faith. It’s time to come clean as, earlier, I deliberately omitted reference to the fifth and significant contributor to Harlan’s sophomore set, vocalist Rachel Jones. On Bow And Be Simple Rachel’s input on two of the four verses fits Harlan’s timbre like a glove, while on the ensuing Too Much Going On, Rachel solos on the second verse and shares the remaining pair. In terms of focus, the lyric finds the world weary narrator reflecting upon his life journey. Before I move on I should mention that in the final verse of Bow And Be Simple, Matt tips a nod to Rod Picott with mention of ‘angels or acrobats.’ Pushing the pedal to the metal, Darker Shade Of Grey Matt cranks up the pace significantly while lyrically the narrator delivers a diatribe that hinges upon the insight: ‘Some say the world revolves around the slow pull of the sun, But I’m learning it’s the darker things that get the moving done.’ There’s a curiously raw and ghostly—doesn’t quite sound like him—edge to Matt’s voice on Simple Song, while sly, self-deprecating humour pervades the bookend chorus. The Ring witnesses domestic abuse colliding with deadly force, while the sonically eerie Elevator Ride, replete with the insight: ‘All day I’m chasing money like the cure for some disease,’ finds an office worker contemplating another day of ‘9 to 5’ drudgery set to the beat of capitalism’s drum. Three blue-collar characters ‘Mining the hard scrabble of this new decade’ weave personal contemplation upon the current economic downturn into the fabric of the sardonically titled The Easy Road, and album closes with the aforementioned Long Ride Home. A conventional love song, therein a traveller waxes tenderly: ‘You’re a ghost in every room that I sleep alone.’ (By Arthur Wood) - Maverick Magazine