Tallest Man on Earth

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If you are a Bob Dylan fan, do yourself a favor and listen to the Tallest Man on Earth ( musical moniker for Kristian Matsson). He's part Woody Guthrie, early 60's Bob Dylan (with his voice full of premature rust), and part Scandinavian ghost. His guitar seems to loop around, subverting classic folk rhythms into minor key miracles. He's the complete package: a folk singer with his ear to the ground and his eyes on the hills. In the world of these songs, the drama of nature is heightened, and the connection to self and others runs strong. The every day is uplifted. 

Case in point: 2006's excellent song "Walk the Line". There's no doubt that the song title was an attempt to place his music in the hillbilly/folk/ country tradition, with a nod here to Johnny Cash. However, here, the result musically is something wanders in the dark a bit longer and a bit harder than the boom-pow-wow country music could. Here, the theme seems to be a sort of David and Goliath conflict for the very soul of humanity.



"Where Do My Bluebird Fly" weaves another dream-like a spider web with the acoustic guitar. There's a certain intensity to this song felt in the chords and Matsson's voice that barely outmatch the longing in the poetic lyrics. 

In the last song featured here, you'll hear that Matsson can play that ol' soaring chorus as well, in "The Dreamer", where firm shakes on a clean electric guitar punctuate the poetic movements of his lyrics- "sometimes the blues is just a passing bird/ and why can't that always be?".



Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 17, 2017 at 10:10 PM

    I'll put this artist on Spotify and listen to a a few hours to and from work.

    ReplyDelete

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