Where Do My Bluebird Fly + Sagres:
Kristian Matsson,
a Scandinavian singer-songwriter, is
also known as The Tallest Man On Earth. With
constant comparisons to Bob Dylan due to the relentless need to label
everything, Matsson is slowly
changing his sound – expanding and branching out, adding more depth to his
music. After two well-accomplished albums, The Wild Hunt and Shallow
Grave, that Matsson has said
were rushed and stressful to produce, he’s moving forward and making music that
feel to him more personal – finally creating the sound he wants. Where
Do My Bluebird Fly is from his second album, Shallow Grave, stripped
back with just him and his guitar, while Sagres is from his latest album, Dark
Bird Is Home, which was released earlier this year in May. Sagres
is different to Where Do My Bluebird Fly, with a larger arrangement that has
others accompanying him, that’s fleshed out and feels lighter (even if there is
still this heaviness to some of the lyrics, “it’s just all this fucking doubt”) - this weightlessness is
comforting.
Knowing
that his musical development from Shallow Grave to Dark
Bird Is Home was his choice and is more what he envisaged his sound to become
makes his music more appealing – not that it wasn’t appealing before, writing
this is the reason I even discovered that. A surprising influence of his is Bon Iver, but only because there isn’t a
clear representation of their music in his - which is common for most artists,
but this is deliberate: “[I] try to make
it so you can’t hear it”. Bon Iver’s
album For Emma Forever Ago is an
unbelievable album, so it’s no wonder that it’s an album that “really changed my mindset and helped me get
to where I am”, it did the same for me and most probably quite a lot of
other people too.
Matsson’s voice is what
distinguishes him; it hasn’t changed even if his music has developed. The
development from Where Do My Bluebird Fly to Sagres is in the
recording and the finish, although both still recorded live and by his hand, Where
Do My Bluebird Fly feels rough and has less clarity to the final
production than Sagres does. Both tracks still have their draw, this roughness
from his lyrics and voice is part of his charm and this is the sound that he
likes to achieve, “I still somehow managed
to distort it all in the end and give it that brittle, falling-apart sound that
I like”.
Matsson is a good songwriter and knows what he wants out of his
music, and is proud of that – as he should be. The Tallest Man On Earth is someone that has clearly evolved as an
artist and become more of his own musician. Give Where Do My Bluebird Fly
and Sagres
a listen, and if you like what you hear listen to his music from the beginning
(starting with The Wild Hunt).
Where Do My Bluebird Fly;
Sagres;
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