Matt Scott is an Ayrshire based singer/songwriter who makes blues/folk music, and you can find out more about him by checking out this interview I did with him a while back. I’ve also reviewed other examples of his music which you can check out here and here. Today though I’ll be reviewing his EP ‘Stairway Songs: From Hillfoot Avenue, Rutherglen’ which was released on the 20th June 2014.
‘Know The Well Ones’ is the first track on the EP and introduces us to the very real sound that Scott belts out, acoustic guitars and his distinctive vocals. This is one of those songs that you can imagine yourself swaying along to at a gig, just soaking it all in. I like how simple the song is, just a great little track that washes over the listener.
‘You Cried’ the guitar and accordion intro for the second track was brilliant, instantly I liked it, because it was traditional and something you don’t hear often enough. ‘You cried cause you were wrong, cause you had trust someone’ was perhaps the best line in the track because its just so true. And that seems to be a trend with Scott’s songs, they’re true and real.
‘Jenny we All Know’ is already a great name for a song so I had high hopes for this track and at least for me it lived up to those expectations. I really liked the chorus for this song, and I hope jenny is never cruel to me. I listened to this song quite a lot because it’s one of the more catchy songs on the EP but as I’ve realised maybe I’m just a sucker for a good line. And that’s what this song is, a series of good lines, hooked up by some great guitar playing.
‘New Born Prides’ Another intro I really loved, a lot of energy and fusion of notes that lend themselves perfectly to Scott’s now familiar voice. Lie all of his tracks so far they all have a nice hook in the song that gets you, and each of them tells a story in a way that not all songwriters remember to do, they songs don’t try to sound cool, they’re just stories backed up by Scott’s music. I think overall the guitar was my favourite in this track though, something about the tune just worked for me.
‘Red & Black’ Different from the previous tracks but equally good, this song had a little more edge, Scott putting a little fire behind his voice this time. Even the guitar had a little more twang to it, it makes for a really good song. You still recognise Scott’s distinctive style though, which is important, he’s not trying to sound like anyone else.
‘Untitled’ is a song truly deserving of a title, but doesn’t need one to be great. I liked this track, it was probably second of my favourite list for this track after ‘New Born Prides’ I think that this song would go down really well at a live performance, something about it just screams that I needs to be played on a stage.
So that’s what I thought of Matt Scott’s EP ‘Stairway Songs: From Hillfoot Avenue, Rutherglen’ and unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be available online any longer but you can check out more of his music on Bandcamp. Make sure and support Matt Scott by following him on Facebook and Twitter.
First Published on: https://www.newhellfireclub.co.uk
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