Matt Pearce & The Mutiny - Gotta Get Home
Retro review by; DeeDee
One positive thing about the lockdown and bands streaming online is the chance to experience those that have so far eluded you. This is how I came across Matt Pearce & The Mutiny. Listening to the band, I decided to check out the debut album, released back in May 2018 and titled ‘Gotta Get Home’.
’Scarecrowing’ has an upbeat and funky backing line with swirling blues/rock guitar and smooth vocals. A little like a ‘Robin Trower’ creation in the way it gently flows and twists with those snippets of guitar excellence. Great introduction to the album and it definitely gets full marks for uplifting your spirits. ‘Ordinary Blues’ has a hook that is repeated behind more clear vocals. It too cruises along without any effort and has a middle eight that turns the dials down for some soaring vocals and stunning solo guitar, returning to more dramatic instrumental sounds towards the end. One of my favourites has to be ‘Like A Hammer’ a drifting voyage of amazing backing vocals and simplistic, yet smooth lines of unadulterated and pure pleasure. The striking keyboards and tapping rhythm of ‘Some People’ make this so enjoyable to hear. Off centre and wailing guitar with easy to go lyrics, it’s friendly and you have to come back to it again and again.
‘Dig Deeper’ is a return to basic funk/rock, Matt gets more in-depth with the vocals and the harmonies are perfect. Again it’s a simple melody with stacks of add ons. The drumming and bass guitar are heard a lot more and you can sense the fun the band are having, just playing this track. Not surprisingly the first single ’Set Me Free’ was regular on Planet Rock radio and had a mass of streams on Spotify. The song is slower and more meaningful, although not quite a ballad. The guitar echoes and rings while Matt offers a lot more lyrics, telling a tale of sadness. The title track ‘Gotta Get Home’ starts with steel guitar and a Southern breeze. A change of tempo and a decent chorus makes this another that stands out. It gets low, moody and quite sensual; you can feel the passion, before returning to the steel of the Deep South at the end. ‘Worried’ carries on in the same groove but more stripped back, sounding like original blues, being played on a Southern cotton plantation. The final track is truly uplifting, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ swings into action with plenty of far reaching melody and a honky tonk take on a rock/blues base.
Live appearances by Matt Pearce & The Mutiny have included HRH Blues, HRH Crows, Winterstorm and The Cambridge Rock Festival. All this in a relatively short time as they have only existed for a couple of years. They list The Rolling Stones, Little Feat, Govt Mule, Kris Barras and Rival Sons as favourite artists and I can see how that influences the result. Joe Bonamassa is another and I can see a lot of similarities there, however, Matt Pearce & The Mutiny are original sounding and it would be fair to say combine all aforementioned influences to produce some classy work. Love the polished style and the feeling of satisfying bliss, that this album rewards you with.
4/5
For more information about the band, click on the links below.
https://www.mattpearceandthemutiny.com
https://www.facebook.com/mattpearceguitar/