Swedish folk troubadour Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth, is on a bit of a hiding to nothing with his third album There’s No Leaving Now.
If he sticks to his tried and tested formula of both his debut album Shallow Grave (2008) and the bulk of his second album Wild Hunt (2010), of just passionate vocals and acoustic guitar playing, then he leaves himself open to accusations of lacking ambition.
If he mixes it up a little, adding perhaps piano as he did on Kids on the Run, the final excellent track from his second album, or electric guitar as he did on the Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird EP, then he risks alienating his audience.
Seemingly aware of the careful tightrope he walks of pleasing himself as an artist, his fans and music critics There’s No Leaving Now ends up as a solid collection of tracks that will please rather than excite pretty much everyone.
There’s enough sumptuous finger picking and fast paced strumming to please his fans, especially on the John Martyn-esque Leading Me Now. There’s also enough ambition on display to show he is moving on with his career, with drums, piano, slide guitar, strings and electric guitar added to at least half the tracks. It’s these more adventurous tracks that end up the more interesting, especially the electric guitar arrangements on 1904 and the gorgeous piano ballad title track that anchors the album nicely.
This difficult third album is in some ways his best as it has a variety and change of pace that the previous two albums largely lacked. But in other ways it’s also his most incoherent and leaves the listener with a sense that compromises have been made.
It also lacks the excitement of his previous two albums. There’s no joyous moments such as Wild Hunt’s King of Spain or that breathtaking rawness of his debut, where you could even hear the squeaks of his hand as it moved around the fretboard. Despite this lack of spark, it’s still a fine album, showing that he is keen to move on with his music, test out new ideas and prove that he is more than just a troubadour with a guitar and a big voice.
8/10
by Joe Lepper
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