Bare Bones 'is a fascinating and unique musical offering'
Published Saturday November 21st, 2009
Wilfred Langmaid
"Frederictonian Matt McFarlane had the fire of music light within him in the 1990s. The spark was rock, grunge, and alternative music of that decade.
This spark is the antecedent of a very raw, aggressive way of acoustic guitar playing, singing, and song construction.
That fascinating combination - heavy '90s rock at the core of solo acoustic singer/songwriter craft - makes McFarlane's entirely self-written, self-recorded, self-mixed, and self-produced album Bare Bones a fascinating and unique musical offering.
The fusion works for a few reasons. Most importantly, McFarlane is at the core a decent songwriter. The 11 tracks that make up the so-aptly-named Bare Bones are diverse; their power has the dual weaponry of good lyric writing and a furious delivery on vocals and guitar.
The whole thing is a stirring one-person offering of the roots of man's musical soul, delivered by a hitherto-unknown local musician who has the skills to make a unique offering work well."
Fredericton-based freelance writer Wilfred Langmaid has reviewed albums in The Daily Gleaner since 1981, and is a past judge for both the Junos and the East Coast Music Awards. His column appears each Saturday.
Source: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/liveit/article/864755
