New Albums
SCOTT MATTHEWS
Black Country singer-songwriter takes a lightly experimental detour
New Skin SHEDIO
7/10
After six albums of solidly traditional folk-pop, West Midlands singersongwriter Scott Matthews finally risks a more contemporary sonic palette on New Skin, incorporating light-touch electronics, programmed beats and ambient guitar treatments. In a nutshell, he swaps his early-1970s aesthetic for a glossy mid-’80s makeover on languid, jangly ruminations like “Wait In The Car” and “The Light”. But beneath these cosmetic changes, Matthews remains an emphatically old-school troubadour with a deliciously intimate, grainy voice that unashamedly invokes Rufus Wainwright’s scuffed-velvet croon and Jeff Buckley’s spine-tingling falsetto acrobatics.