I woke up to Mat Kearney's newest single "Closer to Love" this morning on the radio, so I thought it would be appropriate to blog about his album City of Black & White. I first heard Mat Kearney on the radio with his single "Nothing Left to Lose" and then I saw him open for the Fray at the Knitting Factory in Spokane. Strangely it wasn't until I picked up his album, also titled Nothing Left to Lose, that I really got into his music style - which I've heard compared to everything from Jason Mraz to Everlast to Coldplay (which truthfully, I can see comparisons to all of them). It's true, he raps in Nothing Left to Lose, and some of his best songs are the ones where he raps (see "Girl America" and "Undeniable" - the former does sort of remind me of "What It's Like" by Everlast). In City of Black & White, for some unknown reason, Mat doesn't rap. Theories range from "some people didn't like Mat's beat poetry/rap" to he wanted his songs to be "radio-ready" (both "theories" I found on Amazon.com reviews). Admittedly I do miss his beat poetry/rap (which I came to recognize as part of his style); fortunately, City of Black & White still manages to retain his sound.
Mat Kearney was born in Eugene, Oregon and has spent the last eight years living in Nashville, Tennessee. His songs have appeared on a plethora of popular television shows from Friday Night Lights to Grey's Anatomy. City of Black & White blends piano and guitar beautifully in an album of storytelling and hopeful love songs. Without the rap, I do feel like the album has less variety than Nothing Left to Lose - there's still variety among ballads, but I don't feel like I'm exposed to the same range of emotions from his previous album. Regardless, the slower, softer nature of the album does nothing to diminish Mat's energy and passion. My favorite tracks are "All I Have", "Fire & Rain (Acoustic)", "Never Be Ready" and I really do like the radio single "Closer to Love" - there's a music video for the song at the bottom of this post (I apologize for the ads, it's from Mat's site, but it's a pleasant video). Mat will be coming back to the Knitting Factory in Spokane on October 30th, 2009 and Seattle on November 2nd and Portland on November 3rd.
Fave tracks: "All I Have", "Fire & Rain (Acoustic)", "Never Be Ready" and "Closer to Love"
RIYL: The Fray, Coldplay, Jason Mraz, Everlast, Erin McCarley, U2
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