Matthew Sweet
Blue Sky On Mars (Volcano)
by Barbara Restaino
If there’s one thing I’ve always liked about Matthew Sweet, it’s his style – honest, energetic, real. And from the Japanamated “Girlfriend” video to the simple turbulence of Altered Beast to the picture of him as a little kid on the cover of 100% Fun, there’s always been a hook. And now he’s got this space discovery thing going on with Blue Sky On Mars. The cover art includes photos of Sweet in a bubble helmet and of Mars from Viking Landers 1 and 2 (one of a desolate, blue-gray Martian sunset).
The space theme continues beyond the packaging as Sweet explores different worlds – imagine Speed Racer, but in outer space, zipping around planets and asteroid fields, listening to guitar-fronted pop melodies on his headphones. But then Speed listens a little closer and realizes he’s surrounded by the weird astro-sounds of the cosmos. These unearthly sounds, provided by keyboards and synthesizers, remain secondary to clean, pure Sweet-style guitars. You’d think the effect might add more noise or confusion to the songs, but it seems to round them out by making you aware of the silence, of the timely pause. You can hear the distance between the vocals and guitars, between the keyboards and drums (which, by the way, are great for air-drumming). While the album is beautifully complex, its essence is simplicity.
The first three songs on Blue Sky On Mars (“Come to California,” “Back to You,” and “Where You Get Love”) are perfect examples of the Matthew Sweet fun, radiant song, the ones packed with those catchy, great for listening to when you’re driving for the sake of driving, melodies. Other songs, such as “Behind the Smile,” have a bittersweet, yearning quality (your head bops from side to side rather than up and down).
Like his previous albums, Blue Sky On Mars ,although exhibiting a polished sound, has a home demo quality, especially on slower, more acoustic songs like “Missing Times” and “Until You Break,” which is augmented by an electric harpsichord, played by co-producer Brendan O’Brien. He also plays keyboard and synth, and some of the more extraterrestrial characteristics on songs like “Heaven and Earth” and “Into Your Drug” seem to have been O’Brien’s influence. The expanded universe of Matthew Sweet takes another step towards infinity.
