Music

Matt Andersen

Mash House, Edinburgh

Rob Adams

five stars

AS BIG a man as Matt Andersen is – and the Canadian singer-guitarist is very big indeed – his talent is even bigger. For an hour and a quarter or so, Andersen held his audience in thrall with an almost non-stop stream of songs sung with straight from the heart sincerity, superlative guitar picking and entertaining, roguish chat.

It’s a mark of his ability that the songs from his latest album, Honest Man, a biggish rhythm and blues production with band and horn section, sounded absolutely complete with just his voice and guitar. But then this is no ordinary singer and guitarist.

Andersen runs through several alphabets of dynamic range, from a volcanic roar when he throws back his head and makes the PA redundant to a warm, confiding croon and from a full-on, piston-like rhythm ‘n’ rub to a tender caressing of the strings. What makes this all the more impressive is his attention to tone production at every increment, both vocally and instrumentally, and the union he creates between voice and guitar so that they’re equal partners in a flow of music, a one-man orchestra.

I Play the Fool for You found him in bottleneck blues mode, deftly slipping a wolf whistle on the strings into a dark tale of the girlfriend that nobody in the social circle likes, and Round and Round was altogether happier, inviting audience participation. All human experience, or most of it anyway, is here, and while My Old Friend the Blues in print might give the impression of someone about to wallow in self-pity, it turns out to be a quietly uplifting, life-affirming parting shot from a master craftsman.