Matt Wertz - Under Summer Sun

[MusicTalks]

Matt Wertz - Under Summer Sun
Record Label: Universal Republic
Release Date: September 16, 2008

It is my stance that summer is possibly the best time for music. Something about listening to music in the summer makes life a little bit better. Driving with the windows down, sleeves rolled up, and the sound of an ocean walking next to you. Out of school. On vacation. On a road trip. Definitely a great time for good music. Now, mix the season of summer with an album that oozes a breeze of summery goodness? You can’t go wrong. Right? Well, not so fast. Listening to music in the summer, regardless of genre or musical category, is like grading on a curve. You give it a little cushion because it’s summer and it’s an album that has a summer feel to it. You’re drunk on the season before even listening. In fact, you could be driving down the boulevard with suspect music playing (cue a High School Musical soundtrack) and it would still feel good. Remember, after all, you are on vacation or road trip or out of school. Summer creates a little bias that requires the listener to sit down and reevaluate how good music, in the summer, actually is.

Matt Wertz’s fifth album, Under Summer Sun, is just the type of record that I’m talking about. Imagine: it’s a fresh summer night and you’re driving around with your hometown with friends in the back, listening to music, knowing that you have nothing to do the next day (or the next two months). One of them suggests popping in the new Matt Wertz album. Hell, why not? You like his music and it’s summer. If this is the case, I’m almost certain that Under Summer Sun will turn out to be a great record. Now, teleport these same kids to a bitter winter day where your snot freezes, your jeans get so cold that your legs go numb and you’re going to school despite six inches of snow on the ground. Suddenly, a good summery album doesn’t feel or sound so good. See where I’m going?

Under Summer Sun is a catchy, simple record that doesn’t warrant a lot of extracurricular thoughts. It was released on September 16th, which is right at the end of summer. Even the colors and images of the album artwork (oranges, yellows, sunglasses, smiles) exude a summer feel. It’s a great record for an open highway in July or August, but I don’t know when else I would really think about spinning this album again. Wertz is a talented guy. He is a talented songwriter. His vocals lack anything totally memorable, like something out of a Sunday church band, which, oddly enough, is where he got his start (YoungLife Camps). Artists like Wertz, Dave Barnes and Jon McLaughlin can tend to run together, to the fair-weather listener, based on similar vocal range and how they utilize it.

With the type of vocals he possesses, making an album like Under Summer Sun is a total safe bet. However, with the type of vocals he possesses, it won’t be something groundbreaking either. The whole album has a nice, soft feel to it and definitely kicks off with the perfect song in “Everything’s Right.” The first lyrics you hear are “Windows down as the night rolls in/ Tap the beat on the wheel as the tires spin.” Right after this we hear “Nostalgia’s thick as the August air/ It takes us back to a time when we didn’t care, we didn’t care.” Lyrics like these, given a summer environment, make it much more enjoyable. All the songs never venture into a real degree of difficulty as far as vocals go and the melodies plateau early on. Except for a select few, the songs sound similar, to the point that I couldn’t tell some of them apart, even after listening to the album four and five times through. This being said, there are some fun songs. The best song, by far, is “The Way I Feel” which features a soulful Marc Broussard. But, even on this song, Wertz’s limited vocals are overshadowed by how good Broussard is. “519” is another good song that is getting some airplay on various radio stations across the country. “Red Meets Blue” has a nice instrumental vibe to it, probably my favorite of the album. While I’m not an avid Wertz follower, “Carolina” has to be a fan favorite with it’s quick lyrics and banjo infused feel. “Keep Faith” is another good song mixed in the mediocrity of the album. And, “Summer Sun” is definitely the epitomizing song on this album. It embodies everything I was trying to say about summer and music. In fact, if you are familiar with Marc Broussard’s music, it sounds like something off of Carencro, another album with a summery feel to it.

With all this said, I feel that the album is a little better than average during every season but summer. In the summer, it becomes a great album to listen to. With average vocals, simple lyrics and a simple voice, I don’t know how much I would have liked it sans windows rolled down and a breeze on my face. So, while summer is a great time to listen to music, it can also be a difficult time to grade music – without a curve. For that reason, Wertz should only release in summer months. He’d have a hit every time, for sure.

other works by Matt Wertz; the season of summer; a warm breeze; the words of the ocean; the simple life; smiles
myspace.com/mattwertz (http://www.myspace.com/mattwertz)

[Gregory Robson]

I actually think this is his best album to date. You certainly said all the correct things and reviewed it correctly, but I don't know if you really offered the needed critique. Matt Wertz started off as a bubblegum John Mayer clone. The songs were good, but felt too cookie-cutter and too trite. While I can't say there's anything wholly original or earth-shattering on this album, there's a lot of polish and professionalism in this disc. More so than his other records. Certainly a voice like Broussard's will overpower Wertz any day and I for one am still struggling to think why he'd let a big crooner like that guest vocal. He was just setting himself up for that exact situation. So it goes.

I'm with you on the fact that Wertz played it safe as he doesn't really break any new musical ground here and doesn't exactly go outside of the box, but maybe that has more to do with the record label's input, ya know? Those record execs sometimes have the last word. In the end, this is the best he's done in his career to date. In a few years he just might release a really gritty, deeply felt album. At least I hope!

[MusicTalks]

I actually think this is his best album to date. You certainly said all the correct things and reviewed it correctly, but I don't know if you really offered the needed critique. Matt Wertz started off as a bubblegum John Mayer clone. The songs were good, but felt too cookie-cutter and too trite. While I can't say there's anything wholly original or earth-shattering on this album, there's a lot of polish and professionalism in this disc. More so than his other records. Certainly a voice like Broussard's will overpower Wertz any day and I for one am still struggling to think why he'd let a big crooner like that guest vocal. He was just setting himself up for that exact situation. So it goes.

I'm with you on the fact that Wertz played it safe as he doesn't really break any new musical ground here and doesn't exactly go outside of the box, but maybe that has more to do with the record label's input, ya know? Those record execs sometimes have the last word. In the end, this is the best he's done in his career to date. In a few years he just might release a really gritty, deeply felt album. At least I hope!

I've listened to Matt Wertz in the past and I will say that I agree about this being his best disc/work. I didn't care for much of his other stuff, as a whole. Few songs here and there. For me, first and foremost it's about the voice. To me, Wertz has always sounded as if he wasn't really singing so much as forcing a whisper. I know that might sound funny, but it's few and far between, to be generous, that he goes big and I think that's because he knows he can't. I wondered the same thing about Broussard, but when you have someone that good, it's hard to argue against having the vocals on the record, even if you are outshadowed.

On top of that, the album literature actually shows when he wrote each song. Personally, I liked that. Gives you an insight as to where in life they were. But, on the flipside, I feel that an album has more meaning when the songs come from the same place - for cohesiveness. When you have songs written 3, 4 and 5 years apart, it's hard to imagine a progression. Now, I know that most artists have songs written and then recorded way later, but for some reason, seeing it written down on the album insert made me go 'Hmmm?"

As far as the needed critique, it's simply an opinion of the album. Each time I see it or hear it, my review encapsulates my feelings on it. To me, it's a fun, summer record and that's all I wanted/could say on it. Like you said, it's not groundbreaking or earth shattering, so I wanted to give the reader an idea of what I felt and what I heard, then let them judge for themselves. Nothing makes me more upset than reading a review of an album where the reviewer ruins the record by examining every single song and every single lyric. I usually mention a few that I like, a few I didn't and then sum it up with an synopsis. If people have interest in the end, it's because you gave them a taste, not recited the record for them.

[TheClockworks]

true talent.