Non Populus
On 2003′s Avalanche, Matthew Good proved that he was a much better musician than the music he had been making. Avalanche was a hulking, thought-provoking, and unapologetically candid record, giving Good enough room to play with new ideas without any limits or boundaries, self-imposed or otherwise. The three albums he released since then never felt like the proper follow-up to Avalanche, and for a time it seemed like Good had permanently settled on the tired trope of the acoustic singer-songwriter.
Lights Of Endangered Species is that follow-up. It’s perhaps Good’s most significant musical statement to date, a complete reinvention of himself and a return to that same boundless creativity that made Avalanche so great. Guitar rock anthems have been replaced with subtle piano and bells, dense pop arrangements have been augmented with a permission to play with space, allowing songs to take shape organically. Good has completely shed his former skin, trading explicit political and ethical musings for implied personal theatre. Every bit of Lights Of Endangered Species speaks to version of Good no longer content with the CanRock zeitgeist of the early 2000s. He’s now more modern, more engaging, and far more interesting.
+MP3: Matthew Good – Non Populus
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