** Matthew Ryan
EAST AUTUMN GRIN
(A&M/Interscope)
Matthew Ryan's
1998 debut, Mayday, found him staking a claim for himself as a
singer/songwriter somewhere between Bruce Springsteen's hoarse-voiced,
blue-collar stoicism and Paul Westerberg's brow-furrowing gravity. The
follow-up, East Autumn Grin, throws in liberal doses of Dylan -- Jakob,
not Bob. And given that so many from the most recent crops of male
singer-songwriters are sample-happy Beckophiles, there's something refreshing
and almost novel about Ryan's Wallflowers-style traditionalism. The result is
an authentically rootsy collection of tunes that falter only when he indulges
in the sort of coffeehouse bathos that has dogged singer/songwriter types since
the dawn of the genre. The way East Autumn Grin's tales of breaking and
broken relationships rely on religious symbolism isn't always such a good thing
either. Still, the album shows off Ryan as a deft songwriter who can
move beyond the kind of grimly fractured fairy tales he seems to prefer, and
who doesn't have to be quite so serious all the time.
(Matthew Ryan performs on Wednesday September 20 at the Kendall Café.
Call T661-0993.)
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