Think of Country Music as a whole, and the themes it encompasses. The cliches that scar the genre like an overused knife wound is often valid criticism of main-stream offerings. At first glance, singer/songwriter Matt Kjeldsen’s “Last Days,” seems like it would be no different. The first two songs on the EP push no boundaries, and while they aren’t particularly bad, they aren’t exactly changing the game either.
The first song, “Closer to Texas,” is about Kjeldsen’s longing to return to his native state, and even though life is beautiful everywhere in the nation, Texas is where he belongs. It’s a simple country song with a tried and true theme.
“I Should Know Me Better Than That By Now,” is a sad soliloquy about the recent passing of a lover. It’s an emotional track about coping with loss, whether it’s through healthy means, or by drowning your pain with a bottle.
But then the EP takes a monumental shift in tone with “Last Days.”
The last three songs of the collection make it clear that Matt Kjeldsen is much more than just another country artist from Texas. Shirking the stereotypical topics, in “Last Days,” Kjeldsen chooses to sing about, and openly criticize the political, economic, and social climate of the nation. It’s jarring in the best way possible. After expecting more of the usual with the first two tracks on the album, “Last Days,” is like a bolt of lightning that gives the EP new life.
Where “Last Days,” is like a preamble to a collapse, singing about what is wrong with the country to Kjeldsen, “What Once Was,” is the full-blown post-crash wartorn anthem. Sounding more like a Muse-esque post-apocalyptic tale than a country song, Kjeldsen’s quiet and sinister vocal delivery where he is speaking on-pitch more so than singing makes it feel like he’s narrating a movie.
The final track on the album is “Ghosts and Shadows,” and it takes the EP from country to blues. Thanks to Kjeldsen’s creative use of chains, organ, and guitar distortion, the song is eerie and haunting. It plays out as if it were the closing theme of that movie Kjeldsen was “narrating,” in “What Once Was.” Everything about the song, from the crunchy guitar riffs, the smart use of non-instrumental sound-bytes, the echo effect on the vocals, all make “Ghosts and Shadows,” the best song the EP has to deliver.
Kjeldsen is an incredibly diverse and multi-talented artist. His ability to mix up his vocal delivery as well as tone and theme prove his versatility as a songwriter. The fact that he does all that as well as spanning multiple genres in one five-song EP proves Kjeldsen’s skill.
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