Matthew Morgan ‘Empathy For Inanimate Objects’ EP Review: Americana With Added Spice

With a voice that’ll remind many older ears of a less gruff Marc Cohen, with shades of James Taylor, Matthew Morgan’s new EP, “Empathy For Inanimate Objects” is an assortment of tracks that show off the artist’s versatility and penchant for telling solid stories, making the collection truly memorable.

Make no mistake, there’s not a lackluster track on the EP, but there’s only one or two where you’ll want to leave them on repeat. More like tracks that’ll catch your ears in a hipster bar or Starbucks, they’re catchy, but most (three out the five on the EP) are not enough. But that’s at his worst. At his best, Morgan’s a singer that has a wonderful group of musicians behind him, weaving a new almost symphony of Americana goodness.

What Morgan also has is the ability to change feels or tones. For an EP, it’s wonderfully multi-layered with different vocal stylings, harmonizations and guitar work.

On “Songs Like These,” Morgan tells an intimate story that is brought out even more thanks to a beautiful backing guitar and his soft-spoken and calm vocals. It’s got that “All by yourself reminiscing” feel to it. But without a real vocal hook (it’s there just subtle), it’s a song that doesn’t steal your ears. While it’s an emotional journey and Morgan and his bandmates perform well here, it’s the type of song you’ve heard the lyrics to before.

Thanks to excellent guitar work and an infectious beat, as well as harmonizing with a female vocalist, “Hold On” ends up being one of the deepest tracks on the EP. Morgan adds a little more mustard to his voice here and the end result is cooler than the previously mentioned ballad. Had there been a few more songs like this, perhaps the EP would be a little more distinguishable as pure Americana, but would also cost Morgan his asset of versatility.

This mood continues with “SticksNStones,” which also has a nice blend of vocal harmonizations and musical flavor. To his credit, the “Whoa” hook in this song, followed by his whistling is über enthralling. To the point where it would have been a perfect fit on the “Django: Unchained” soundtrack. This is the type of work that makes Morgan the type of performer someone who doesn’t appreciate folk can get into because it’s hard-working. The multiple elements at play and the solid lyrics here prove he’s a talent.

The violin ends up stealing your ears in “Lost at Sea,” a song that initially feels like a Siren is trying to grab your hand ad steal you into the heart of the ocean. Add in a nice combination of a more mellow Morgan vocally and it’s probably the best produced piece on the EP.

Between the solid musicianship and Morgan’s vocal prowess, “‘Empathy For Inanimate Objects” is honest and earnest folk rock. Most of the tracks are great background tunes and the EP a definite blend of moods, but the one or two songs that stand out do so in a way where you’ll almost be forced to download the rest of his work.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 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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