It has been 5 years since Mays unleashed Coyote on the world, and he has finally returned with a new LP entitled In one case Upon a Hell of a Time.. .  The artistic process is funny in the way that information technology works, just with the life altering events that transpired since Matt Mays last released a record, nearly people would need time away from the spotlight to decompress and process everything that occurred. Long-time friend and collaborator Jay Smith took his own life during the Coyote touring cycle, and Mays endured the dissolution of a romantic human relationship during that time. In post-obit Mays' career, he seemed to exist sort of artist who would pull upwards stakes and hit the route in search of that next subconscious beach, or fat wave to migrate away on. For the turmoil that he was encountering, most folks would crave some sort of grounding, but instead of laying low, Mays pulled up those stakes and headed out into the world.

Once Upon a Hell of a Time… is an anthology that couldn't exist crafted without the turmoil and heartache that Mays had to endure during the past 5 years, and that turmoil is the fuel on which this album runs. Many folks volition be expecting an anthology that sounds closer to Hayden's early folky downtrodden work, still, this is undeniably a Matt Mays record. It is an album loaded with those crunchy guitars and elegant keys that we've come to know and love from Matt and his merry band of musicians.

It'south conspicuously apparent that Mays has struggled with a duality within himself, every bit he is constantly fatigued to his nomadic leanings and that lure of the open route, meanwhile wanting to set down romantic roots someplace, knowing total well that these two things are diametrically opposed. The opening trio of tracks see Mays wrestling with this conflict, ultimately having to let that special someone get and non wanting to skew their future romantic prospects. Then it comes downward to battling that loneliness which ensues, and wanting nothing more than than to keep that spark alive, merely those cocky-contained demons have a way of burning down the bridges behind us.

Untethered, Mays takes us on the road with "Drive On", equally he tries to explain that for him to stay rooted in one place, means that another part of him would be unfulfilled, and would ultimately wither and die without the proper cultivation that a domestic beingness would not provide. His nomadic spirit had to be indulging in the open road, and those broad-open spaces that the road provides.  While it may seem sorry to some, for others it is that self-affidavit that you are doing the correct thing, as your soul is finally quiet.

This isn't an anthology that finds Mays crying into his beer, instead he has crafted an interesting juxtaposition where the album is a fierce upbeat stone n' coil outing, but the lyrics tell the story of a guy who had to remain truthful to himself, if only for a period to indulge his nomadic tendencies. Those tendencies unabated immune him to roam free, ultimately coasting downhill at a perilous clip, all the while trying to run free of the ghosts that haunted him. Tracks such as "Perfectly Wasted" and "Drunken Angels" are those songs where you make those well-intentioned promises to yourself, that are reinforced past equally inebriated wingmen, but are only doomed to be erased like an compose-a-sketch when the sun crests over the horizon.

I have to say, the saddest and most poetic song metaphor on Matt's new record is "Station Out of Range" which perfectly describes what it is like to fall out of love, or to depart a relationship. There isn't any dramatic explosion, or colorful fireworks, it'southward by and large far more serene and quiet than that. It typically would start with those short bursts of static, with the signal slowly beginning to wane and eventually fading into silence as y'all drive off into the distance. Then on the album'southward closing number "Never Say Never", it sounds similar the darkness has finally passed, peace is finally accomplished, and you can kickoff afresh.

This is hands i of the height three albums Matt Mays has released, and may easily exist the nigh nuanced of his storied career thus far. Once Upon a Hell of a Time… seems like the first half of a story, whereas the next chapter may shed calorie-free on where that road has carried him. For now, equally dark as the content of the new Matt Mays album may be, it is nevertheless a kick ass rock n curl anthology that should find itself on a lot of All-time Of lists come yr end. Hopefully we don't demand to look another 5 years for Matt to drop a new tape on us.

Almost the writer

Trev

A proud and over-caffeinated married man, father, runner and writer. I've written for the local weekly The Coast for over a decade and have since taken to creating and writing for HAFILAX for even longer. I hope you enjoy the musings of a guy who has loved music for the amend role of iv decades, and has an album of concert tickets to prove for it.