Matt Walters - FarewellYouth

Fri 15th Jul, 2011 in Music Reviews

Farewell Youth is the long-awaited debut from Melbourne’s folk-popster Matt Walters. Having been signed to a major label well over two years ago, and having heard precious little new material in that time, one had to assume that something very good, or very bad must have been happening with Walters’ music behind the scenes. Farewell Youth, however, proves both assumptions wrong.

Walters has endured that major-label purgatory, and emerged much the same as he was at the outset; a handsome, promising folksinger with an earnest streak. If this is your thing, there will be plenty for you to like about Farewell Youth. If not, hold tight, as Walters may have more tricks up his sleeve yet.

From the first lines of the first song, Today, it’s pretty clear that Walters’ voice will be running the show. Walters has just the right amount of ache, stopping just short of laying it on too thick, but laying it on pretty liberally nonetheless. Given the way that the spare arrangements are laid out around him, the quavering intensity that he brings is vital in holding the songs together.

This is mostly clearly seen on Dark Days and I Would Die For You; the former is a relatively unremarkable, but for the suppressed anger carried through in Walters’ delivery, and the latter is simply a beautiful, heartfelt song. The flipside to this is that whilst Walters’ sweet, emotive voice keeps things interesting, there are frequent lapses into woe-is-me sad-sackery, with the constant earnestness starting to sound disingenuous, more treacle than honey.

Likewise, when the tempos rise, spare restraint is replaced by the worst type of session-band heavy handedness, stomping on whatever idiosyncrasies are to be found in such a widely syndicated genre as folk-pop. At these moments, such as Midnight Calling and Conversation, Farewell Youth drifts dangerously close to adult contemporary.

St. Peter’s Gate, though, avoids this trap, and represents an album highlight for a number of reasons. Firstly, Walters goes it alone, with his finger-picked guitar, and minimal ambient backing. Secondly, he delivers his lines in a hushed, unaffected manner, which lends his words a distinct note of conviction. Thirdly, there are the words themselves. Where elsewhere Walters addresses the sense of loss and passing time only obliquely, as he focuses his attentions on lost loves and the like, in the time-honoured tradition of troubadours everywhere. St. Peter’s Gate, however, comes on like a William Blake poem. Walters tours the afterlife, directly addressing the unspoken spectres that shape the rest of the album, finding himself and his addled conscience choosing between the certainty of Lucifer’s kingdom, and the prospect of St. Peter’s rejection (he chooses Lucifer).

Farewell Youth’s other strong moments share at least some of these traits; Horses has the minimal, brooding atmosphere, and I Would Die For You has the creeping darkness in its lyrics. For all the polish and craft on display, these are the traits that may set Walters apart. For the time being though, Farewell Youth is an able genre exercise, and a promising debut.