Matt White is a singer-songwriter and he isn’t. He writes and sings all his own music; he plays the guitar and piano and even sings his own backing vocals. However he doesn’t sound like a singer-songwriter usually does. Maybe his hard-to-peg-down sound comes from his history. His father is a musician, his grandmother is Shirley Kesselman, one of the first female jazz orchestra leaders in the '30s, his aunt is an opera singer, White is a former opera student himself and began taking piano lessons at just three years old. No wonder then that this pretty-faced 27-year-old’s sound is both sunny and sweetly innocent while maintaining a mature and well-flavoured air.
His bio says he is a one-man Maroon 5 but I think that’s spurious as Maroon 5 are just a five-man Prince, and I would compare him to the genuine article rather than the paler imitation. But it may be the white-boy funk they are referring to and that is definitely present on White’s debut album Best Days; however, Matt has none of that over-produced gloss. In my standard metaphor style let’s say that if Prince and Billy Joel got married, then divorced, White is who Prince would hire to represent him. The prodigy, funky white-boy with singer-songwriter sensibilities and a touch of Broadway dazzle. If Matthew Broderick wanted to be a rock star he would ask Matt White for advice.
His talent for telling accessible, charming, sometimes romantic, always witty stories is where the real difference lies. White is a man who can find the funny side of being dumped, and laughing at yourself in song is an enviable ability. Every song on Best Days is filled with humour, women, and well placed imagery; as demonstrated in the title single: “and in the morning your eyes open/ it’s so innocent/ the sun is blazing/ we are sweating/ you look lovely/ nothing else matters anymore/ cause you’re in my arms again”. And from the sound of it White has been through his share of women and few other’s too – the revolving heart of love – but he relates all of his loves and heartbreaks with an urbane vivacity that will keep you hooked from note one.
Best Days is out now, available from amazon.com. If you would like to here a few tracks you can visit White's MySpace space or visit his own website.
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