The Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Grave
Record Label: Gravitation
Release Date: March 5, 2008
There’s a point in the early day, just before the sun breaks open and splashes across the sky, when the world wakes up. The risen dew glitters on millions of bristled blades of grass and birds rustle noiselessly in preparation for a day of flight and song. The entire natural world seems to wipe the sleep from its eyes and in a grand and often unnoticed moment of collective expectancy, fills its mighty lungs with morning. There’s a sort of organic excitement whose palpable traces fill the spaces between trees and fields and hidden places.
Words and works of humans rarely capture the splendor and humble grace of times such as these. They are ours only in observance and respect. Yet somehow a whimsical man from Sweden has walked silently among nature’s secrets and penned her subtle fancies in a suitably concise album of verdant gems. Although he is dubbed The Tallest Man on Earth, on stage, Kristian Matsson seems slight as he preens and pads around his microphone, peering out over the audience and into the darkened rafters. His right hand, somehow separate from the rest of his body, flits and flutters across the strings of his acoustic guitar as his throaty, folksy voice sings stories of coy romances and worldly wanderings that seem to come from the very belly of the Earth.
Shallow Grave grows with every listen, littered as it is with capricious metaphors that glint from every angle. The tunes don’t merely contain stolen fragments of raindrops and wrinkle-soft leaves, but rather, in their simplistic loveliness, they reflect the essence of storms and sunkissed forests, wholly and without deletion. Opening with a tumbling, picked guitar line that nearly trips over itself in its enthusiasm, “I Won’t Be Found” offers equally infectious musings such as, “Well if I ever see the morning/ Just like a lizard in the spring/ I’m gonna run out in the meadow/ To catch the silence when it sings/ I’m gonna force the Serengeti/ To disappear into my eyes.” In tracks such as “The Gardner,” which finds Matsson crowing lyrics such as, “So now we’re dancing through the garden/ And what a garden I have made/ And now that death will grow my jasmine/ I find it soothing, I’m afraid,” the vibrant lives of loving individuals are interwoven with the cyclical biography of nature, producing messages whose roots stretch much deeper than a single guitar and Matsson’s smoky rasp would suggest.
What at first listen is often discarded as unsophisticated imitation (generally due to Matsson’s vocal similarity to a certain trailblazing folk icon) should instead be embraced as a rare treasure. Beautiful and effortless, Shallow Grave is a natural revelation. Each song is a fresh, smiling look at the world. He may not be the largest man on the planet, but Matsson has crafted a masterpiece: he deserves to stand tall and be noticed.
I'm listening to this now. The vocal delivery is definitely Dylan-esque.
And I must say that your writing has an artistic quality I can only wish my own would embody. Your diction and use of colorful metaphors result in reviews that are amazingly literary without being pretentious or pedantic. Nicely done!
Good review. I never got around to listening to this despite being a huge Bon Iver fan and hearing about TTMOE touring with Bon Iver. And i like Dylan a lot.
I'm listening to this now. The vocal delivery is definitely Dylan-esque.
And I must say that your writing has an artistic quality I can only wish my own would embody. Your diction and use of colorful metaphors result in reviews that are amazingly literary without being pretentious or pedantic. Nicely done!
wow, thank you so much, that's such a compliment. i really, really appreciate it!
I actually didn't like this album, but this review makes me think I wasn't listening closely enough so I'll try again. Nice work.
it took me a little while to get into it also; i was initially turned off by matsson's voice (not a dylan fan, personally). but after seeing him in concert, i quickly changed my mind.
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