PRESS

Sound as Language 7/15/09

Evette is Morrell’s new album and is wonderfully disjointed (like the cover art) as Morrell seemingly explores every facet of his diverse songwriting. Song by song goes by as Morrell moves in and out of genre classifications with ease.

I prefer songs like “Evette” that are quirky and offer bare, intimate arrangements reminiscent of The Mountain Goats or even Matty Pop Chart. “Old Black Car” and “Sharks & Oligarchs” are rustic in their Americana/pop approach and occupy Rhett Miller/Old 97’s style territory. Morrell forges an endearing innocence as he weaves his interesting tales.

What should be greatly appreciated about Morrell’s songwriting on Evette is the utter lack of pretension here. You never get the feeling that Morrell is moving in any sort of false direction. Instead Morrell is letting the songs take him wherever they may go. You would be surprised how rare that is to hear these days. Morrell’s songs drift along naturally and Evette is more successful than not because of just that.

Radio Exile 3/12/09

“I Can’t Let You Get Away” - Starts off as completely perfect early ’80’s New Zealand pop and finishes with some completely perfect late ’90s Elephant 6 Collective (think The Gerbils) horns. Did I mention the word “perfect”? Because that’s what this song is.
-Tom Williams

The Album Project 2/5/09

"His voice cuts through the lonely, scarce music while the rough overall presentation gleams with charm and character."

Tom Ortega 1/13/09

It's rare to find a "new" artist that can produce themselves well. Being the songwriter, it's tough to pull yourself away and be objective enough to let the music become what it can be vs what you think it should be. Matt seems to do just fine. The best part about Matt and his music is that he found me. I twittered about Paul Simon awhile back and that came across Matt's search. He followed me on Twitter, and I'm sure glad he did. His music will be in permanent rotation from now on and I can't wait to tell everyone, "Yeah, I knew him before he was huge and famous!"

I Can't Let You Get Away - This is a fun song with catchy lyrics.

"And I like it when you call me out.
And I like your eyes on sunny days.
I like the ratio of our mouths
You know I cannot forget the taste."

After one listen, this song will seem old and familiar like your favorite couch or restaurant. You'll find yourself humming it afterward and will wonder how it got lodged so fast in your internal jukebox.

Evette - The simple, innocent sounding acoustic guitar contrasts with the harsh, grim lyrics that begin with:

"Detectives came from CSI
to investigate the homicide"

It then goes on to tell the backstory of Evette. It's a great little ditty.

February Skies - I'll admit. I LOVE this song. It is one of the greatest I've heard in a really long time. Sometimes a song just finds a place in your heart that you know was destined just for it. Being a California boy, I've never experienced a true winter February like the kind described in this song. But I think these lines capture it perfect:

"I haven't left my room in a few days,
I feel numb to the movement of time."

Now that I have a copy of Matt's self-published CD, I can see that it's Dean Fitzgerald playing the electric guitar and Roger Sollenberger playing acoustic guitar. Roger's consistent throughout the song, playing harmony. Dean's electric just sort of flirts with the song, almost like a backup singer that just sorta throws a noise out there to be heard and let every one know she's there. In my head, the acoustic plays the role of the guy in the story as he's sort of the constant throughout the whole song vs the electric representing the girl who is more spoken about vs doing any speaking.

My favorite part starts 2:18 into the song. The guy (the acoustic) goes sort of quiet while the girl (the electric) gets to tell her part of the story (the song). While she tells her part, it starts out sort of quiet and sweet. By 2:50, they're both sort of on equal footing, singing together. By 3:14, she's laying into him and he starts to get a little louder to compete.

By 3:44, there's about 7 seconds and what I'd picture to be the peak of the fight. Then an almost echo of the fight lingers as the electric goes real soft for a bit then the acoustic plays solo on the fade out.