Location:
Canada, Alberta

Category:
Rock / Roots

Try if you like:
Cracker, Elvis Costello, Fire Engine Red, National Dust, Paul Westerberg

Wow, Lorrie, you've come a long way since your Fire Engine Red days. His long awaited and much delayed In Vein is a mature album that should really set the stage for this under-appreciated singer/songwriter. You know when a musician finally hits their stride, I think In Vein just might be that album for Lorrie.

Lorrie has been working at getting his own studio going, enlightening him to the potential a producer can have. I know fellow Calgarian Jay Crocker gets the production credits on In Vein but I'm sure that Lorrie looked beyond what he normally does and managed to create some very intimate and unique situations. Look beyond the Americana sounds that he has been linked to. No, there are a whole lot more influences at play on this album, making it for the most diverse Matheson album to date. One can sometimes add too much to an album with production, In Vein comes close but manages to keep things in control.

The album starts out with Lorrie monkeying around with tapes and percussion before he breaks into quite a bouncy "A Hollow Wind". Then on "Falling Down Sober" we start to hear some of the despair that is prevalent in his music. Depressing and yet promising. We find this on a number of tracks here. "Another Seven Minutes (shot to hell)", a lament to the average time it takes to smoke a cigarette, has some very clever instrumentation. I love the horn on "Down On The Main", it adds a flavor that sets the mood. "Don't Let This Living Kill You" is downright sexy. The guitar work on "You Can Curse The Dark" is fantastic, both the acoustic as well as the interesting effects on the electric providing ambience. "Blue From The Register Side" is a Steve Earle-esque ballad that shows Lorrie has done some soul-searching during the writing of this album.

Full disclosure, I know Lorrie but I really think that he is one of Calgary's musical treasures. I've enjoyed his output from Fire Engine Red to National Dust to his solo albums. And I really have to admit that In Vein is his finest outing to date. Seek it out. I believe that Saved By Radio just put out a vinyl version as well. This album would sound even better in that format.