Costa’s Tunes Lose Some Charm in Second Album

mc_unfamiliarfaces72When former skateboarder and Huntington Beach, CA native Matt Costa released his first album, “The Songs We Sing,” in 2005, music lovers looking for this generation’s James Taylor or Jim Croce jumped for joy. Passionate, mellow and inspiring, Costa first album was a rag-tag compilation of songs, that could be listened to from start to finish. With tracks like “Sunshine,” “Astair,” “My Sweet Rose,” “Cold December” and “Desire’s Only Fling,” there was no need to press the skip button. It was, without a doubt, one of the most compelling acoustic rock albums released in the last decade.

His new album, “Unfamiliar Faces” however, doesn’t quite live up the high expectations created by the success of his first release. Nonetheless, it is far from sophomore jinx. It just doesn’t have the same levity that made his intro album so gratifying.

Drawing inspiration Johnny Cash, June Carter and the Beatles among others, Costa’s sound is completely different than the type of music you’d hear on the radio. His songs range in feeling and topic, but are mostly about his relationships with his friends and loved ones. This in itself isn’t the type of music that many may find ultimately intriguing, but Costa’s voice and catchy guitar riffs draw you in and it’s almost impossible to not find something you like on the album.

One track on the album, “Trying to Lose my Mind,” will remind music aficionados of the Beatles version of “With a Little Help From my Friends.” The Beatles influence doesn’t end there either, as “Mr. Pitiful” also has a “Life Goes On” kind of feel to it. In addition, “Emergency Call” has the feel of a Velvet Underground track teetering in between “Sweet Jane” and “Take a Walk on the Wild Side.” With that being said, “Unfamiliar Faces” is not an album that you will be banging your head to. Instead, it’s an album that would best be served in a coffee house in the West Village. Simply put, Costa’s vocal range and soothing guitar riffs is the kind of music one can relax to. In a day and age where you’d be hard-pressed to find serious acoustic musicians, Costa is still a breath of fresh air in a music scene encompassed with unoriginality and mediocrity.

The only problem is aside from the aforementioned songs, there is nothing that doesn’t separate itself from the average. That’s not to say that there are any really bad songs on the album, because even the worst song, arguably “Bound,” is far from horrible, it just doesn’t have the same sing-a-long characteristics that made Costa’s first album so enjoyable.

In the end, while Costa’s newest sacrifice to the musical gods is an enjoyable and listen-able one, it doesn’t captivate and mystify. Instead, it merely suffices.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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