Patershuk has a warm and soft voice, an engaging way of playing and writes stories about people you want to know about. ‘An Honest Effort’ is, honestly, one of the nicest albums I’ve heard this year and in this case ‘nice’ is not denigrating him in any way. Its an album that gives you a warm glow.
The production is simple but the little touches of guitar, banjo and mandolin that underpin the main song provide a wonderful starlight behind the main song – a difficult trick to get right, but he really manages it here.
The songs introduce you to people like ‘Joanna’, a woman running away from her ‘now’ to go back to the hopes and possibilities of ‘then’. Or then there is ‘Jupiter The Flying Horse’ – featuring the excellent Steve Dawson on Weissenborn & Fats Kaplin’s harmonica – tells the tale of a Barnum & Bailey horse act that falls for a mare that pulls the wagons for the show.
‘Afraid To Speak Her Name’ has a shimmering Weissenborn guitar alongside Matt’s vocals creating a remarkably intense image – like one of the religious Ikons, full of hidden detail in the darkness.
Every track introduces new people and situations and they are beautifully illustrated by lyrics that intrigue and illuminate in equal amounts.
He is from Alberta Canada, another one of the many Canadians who are making the modern Americana scene so vibrant and is very definitely one of those artists I would love to see live- I get the feeling that these songs would be brilliant in a gig setting.
