Despite being a Swede, Kristian Matasson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth is making southern american style folk music better than most americans.
Matasson has a new release (The Wild Hunt) due for release April 13th, but I’ve decided to post 2008s Shallow Grave because it’s got such a perfect feel for the lovely weather we seem to be breaking into at the moment.
Most reviews immediately point out Bob Dylan as a comparison (but saying that, whenever there is a new folk musician on the scene when don’t those comparisons come out?) – but, while there are obvious similarities (with a man as prolific in the history of the genre such as Dylan of course there would be) The Tallest Man On Earth shouldn’t be lazily tagged as “Dylan 2.0” because he holds his own in the scene, delivering an optimistic and urgent vocal performance and highly skilled, finger picked guitar and banjo opposing the usual raspy drawls and predictable chord progressions of most higher profile folk musicians.
The production featured on Shallow Grave is very honestly recorded, raw and live, blemishes and all, allowing Matasson’s skills to be shown at their fullest without the use of any production trickery. It is a very honest and heartfelt performance and you can tell he puts his all into his music.
This record has been the reason for the great mood I’ve been in lately, very uplifting wonderful folk music.
legs to drop us. 