When I heard the first single ‘Not About A Girl Or A Place’ from Jonah Matranga’s new album ‘And’ I wasn’t particularly impressed. Here was a musical revolutionary who, it seemed, time had finally caught up with. Thankfully though this unfair preconception changed dramatically once I heard the record in full.
As Geoff Rickley stated so aptly when referring to Jonah’s lyrics for Onelinedrawing: (it feels like you’re) “eavesdropping on an internal dialogue.” That statement rings as clear and true of Jonah’s lyrics on this album as ever. For that reason, in hindsight, judging the album from just one song was particularly stupid of me. ‘And’ is a far from comfortable journey, but then what else would you expect?
As far as song-writing goes, Jonah Matranga is basically better than you. He’s got the technique down to a fine art and it really shows throughout the entirety of the album. Musically, ‘You Always Said You Hated San Francisco’ is stunningly fragile whilst lyrically ‘Every Mistake’ deals with the coming of age we all have to go through at some time in our lives and learning lessons the hard way:
“I could tell stories of infinite roads, fountains of youth, romantic fables. But instead I’ll just say it: You’re going to make every mistake, sometimes you’ll fall flat on your face.”
With ‘And’ Jonah Matranga has captured the trials and tribulations of life and balances the two beautifully. Whether you’re a fan of New End Original, Far, Onelinedrawing, Gratitude, or any of Jonah’s other solo stuff in general, this won’t fail to impress. If however you don’t know who Jonah Matranga is, I suggest you find out pronto, you almost definitely unknowingly owe a lot to this man.
Rich Rowe
