I am currently enjoyed a bit of holiday time. I recently visited family out of town for Christmas and now I’m back and settling in good and proper for some home-based rest and relaxation.
Disc 1793 is…Outside the Lights of Town
Artist: Matt Patershuk
Year of Release: 2013
What’s up with the Cover? A stamp collection! These are all stamps depicting various aspects of rural life in Canada which, not coincidentally, is also the overall theme of the record.
Having visited my mom earlier this week these stamps remind me of the time she sold her stamp collection so she could afford to buy me a new bike for my birthday (it would not have happened otherwise).
We didn’t have a lot when I was young, but we did have a great mom.
How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan of Matt Patershuk since I learned about him through an article in folk music magazine Penguin Egg around 2017.
This particular album wasn’t available for sale on his website (which is not well maintained), but I was able to snap it up at a live show he put on at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre in December of 2019. One of the last shows I saw before “pandemic interruptus” that began in early 2020. At the merch table I secured this record as well as a friendly chat with Mr. Patershuk himself. You can read a review of the show alongside my review of “If Wishes Were Horses” back at Disc 1322.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Matt Patershuk albums, which a short internet search has revealed is no longer all of them. He released a fifth album called “An Honest Effort” in November of 2021. However, the Matt Patershuk website lists this event as future-based (i.e. “coming soon in November 2021 – pre-order here!” A bit more searching reveals that it does in fact exist and will now be going on my “to get” list.
For now, however, I have reviewed all four albums in my collection, so as tradition dictates here’s a full recap:
- I Was So Fond of You: 4 stars (reviewed
at Disc 1380)
- Same as I Ever Have Been: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1234)
- If Wishes Were Horses: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1322)
- Outside the Lights of Town: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
Ratings: 4 stars
“Outside the Lights of Town” is Matt Patershuk’s first record, but it reveals an artist with a clear vision of the kind of music he wants to make. Or in Patershuk’s terms, a person who knows what he is about and shares it straight up, no frills.
That vision is a love letter to rural Canada (more specifically Northern Alberta) and the hard-working, honest folk who help give those wild and beautiful spaces their character. The music is like the subject matter – folk/country crossover music delivered in plain and candid melodic structures and lyrics.
Don’t let the simplicity of the arrangements fool you. The musicianship on the record provided by backing banc “The Dirty Plaid Orchestra” is excellent. There is a laid back but confident settling into the style that keeps the songs moving along but never in a hurry, each story taking exactly as long as is needed to reveal its secrets.
The stories are aided by Patershuk’s vocals. In addition to being a talented lyricist, Patershuk’s high baritone has a gravelly tone that was born to tell tales. His phrasing is excellent, and while you won’t get any vocal theatrics, you won’t ever wish they were there.
“Mill Towns” is my favourite, the story about the collapse of the forest industry in Alberta, hastened by the arrival of the Mountain Pine Beetle. I admit as a British Columbian from a mill town myself, this song had particular resonance, all the way down to lines like…
“Now the swallows are nesting around the green chain door"
…that had me thinking about my own summers on a green chain, now silenced by circumstance, where I learned some valuable lessons as well as some much-needed humility.
“King of this Town” is also an excellent descriptor of that guy who was once a big deal and still likes to talk about those days. This song gets bonus points for referencing the greatest hockey team ever, the Boston Bruins.
There are many love songs, often focused on the small courtesies and courtships that accompany that form the awkward and delightful dance of first meeting someone. Notable titles in this sub-genre include “Better Man” (not the Pearl Jam song), “Let’s Get It On” (not the Marvin Gaye song) and “Silver Bangles”. “Let’s Get It On” may not be Marvin Gaye but it is a rural approximation of the experience, and deliberately borrows a hook from that song for the bridge, which was a nice nod.
“Colour Song” is a murder ballad, which usually means I’m going to like it, but Patershuk focuses a bit too much on the imagery of colour. It’s the theme holding the song together, but it feels forced into the narrative a bit too often. It is the only song on the record where the fact that this is Patershuk’s first record feels evident.
A very minor quibble, however, on a record that consistently delivers great stories, well played, by people who live and breathe the experiences they speak of (OK, maybe not the murder bits…). I wanted to give this record 3 stars and demonstrate it was my least favourite of his records, but the truth is it is just one more great album by an artist that deserves a whole lot more recognition that he gets. 4 stars.
Best tracks: King of This Town, Mill Town, First Now, Better Man, Outside the Lights of Town
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