Album Details

• Artist: The Tallest Man On Earth
• EP:
Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird
• Label: Dead Oceans
• Year of Release: 2010
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2010-09-24

With Kristian Matsson being compared to everyone from Dylan to Nick Drake to Ryan Adams, you'd think it likely for his music to be disappointing just on principle. But on this EP, the Norwegian sensation's own voice breaks through shockingly, even as he echoes the yardsticks others have placed before him. "Sometimes The Blues is Just a Passing Bird" is a wise, forgiving but hip set of rich character studies.

"Little River," in vocals and melody, is a dead-ringer for Donovan-trying-to-be-Bob, but that is only until the stunning final third of the song, when the sheer poetry and dead-on insight of the lyrics grabs hold. The fingerpicking is also deft and lyrical, as it is on the minimal "Like a Wheel" and "Tangle in This Trampled Wheat." Electric guitar is also given the microtonal touch on "The Dreamer," where Matsson's works out at his most abstract. The closer, "Thrown Right at Me," is the real letdown, where the vocals are more whiny, the observations less cutting.

As The Tallest Man on Earth, Kristian Matsson has shown enough genius to be seen as the latest Big Thing. The folky, surreal beauty of the writing and playing on "Sometimes The Blues is Just a Passing Bird" live up to a generous portion of the hype.

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