Matthew and the Atlas
Temple
Album · Alternative · 2016 · Communion Music
After the rewarding emotional turbulence of 2014’s “Other Rivers”, have Matt Hegarty and his band found calm? Not quite, fortunately. There’s a serenity to this second album but keening, almost soothing angst still informs their pastoral, earthily melodic folk-rock. The big weapon here, of course, remains Hegarty’s voice. Rich, anguished but solid as oak, it’s hypnotic on the album’s more serene moments (“Graveyard Parade, “Mirrors”) and captivating when playing grizzled storyteller (“Elijah”, “Old Master”).
Temple
Matthew and the Atlas
After the rewarding emotional turbulence of 2014’s “Other Rivers”, have Matt Hegarty and his band found calm? Not quite, fortunately. There’s a serenity to this second album but keening, almost soothing angst still informs their pastoral, earthily melodic folk-rock. The big weapon here, of course, remains Hegarty’s voice. Rich, anguished but solid as oak, it’s hypnotic on the album’s more serene moments (“Graveyard Parade, “Mirrors”) and captivating when playing grizzled storyteller (“Elijah”, “Old Master”).
