Featured Artist: Matthew Herbert

CD Title: Score

Year: 2007

Record Label: Accidental Records

Style: Progressive

Review:

Composer Matthew Herbert wears a hodgepodge of musical hats spanning DJ fare, remixes, electronica, arranging and film scoring.  Armed with a vast imagination and the technical goods to support his visions, these works transmit his scores for a string of  European flicks.  And when asked why he hasn’t cracked the American market, Herbert cites the politics involved unless you have a “high-powered agent” at the helm and all the red-tape that would seemingly follow.

In essence, this album portrays Herbert as a colorist who excels at providing layered, sub-themes within the context of his variable works.  No doubt his broad musical tastes and influences shine glitteringly here.  With these acoustic-electric compositions it is easy to discern why the artist would be summoned for soundtrack-based employment.  On “Rivoli Shuffle,” culled from the 2001 movie “La Defi,” he melds big band charts highlighted by bouncy syncopated rhythms, quaint piano motifs and wah-wah horn choruses.  Then with the old favorite “Singing in the Rain,” Herbert intersperses the primary big-band centric theme with a cosmic meltdown, and to cite his per-track liners, he was pushed into this deconstruction exercise by the film’s director.  In other regions, he employs a choral group to sing atop ambient-electronic frameworks, where contrasts abound.  During “Rendezvous,” he implements tinker-bell like keyboard phrasings underneath the chorale group called “The Sixteen,” while fusing torpedo bullet tapes/samples used in Iraq for the percussion sounds.   

Herbert’s piece from the movie “The Intended,” parlays a Brian Eno-like and therapeutic ambient sound that uncannily emanates from acoustic instruments.  Therefore, it’s a diverse mix, indeed.  And one that induces a magnetic appeal from a hodgepodge of counterbalancing angles. 

Artist's Website: http://www.herbert-score.com

Reviewed by: Glenn Astarita

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