Matthew Ryan - Matthew Ryan vs Silver State

has been described as a bit of a modern day Bruce Springsteen or Tom Waits and you can instantly hear why - he shares their whispering gutteral rasp and love/hate relationship with America, wrapped around thoughtful lyrics largely set to soft rock backings. ‘Matthew Ryan Vs Silver State’ is the latest in his line of impressively prolific solo work stretching back to 1997, and deals with themes at once personal and political.

Although it pains us to admit it, if you asked what the first word that comes to your mind upon hearing this album, ‘dreary’ is one of those that pops in. And the trouble is, once you’ve had that thought it’s very difficult to make it go away. Which isn’t to say Ryan is bad at what he does. For example, ‘It Could Have Been Worse’ is a bitter tale of a friend who committed suicide which is of course a massively brave subject matter and Ryan deals with this painful topic with immense dignity and heart-rending lyrics (‘When you were a kid/You listened to The Clash/You learned to never ask/Where your Daddy was’). Ryan is very polished at describing one-on-one relationships seen in the simple ghost of a melody and fragile vocals on ‘I Only Want To Be The Man You Want’ or the bitter terror of ‘Drunk And Disappointed’ (‘John’s in the bathroom/Scared to death/Once he went under/He couldn’t catch his breath’).

In fact, Ryan’s imagery-heavy and cut-to-the-heart lyrics are brilliant - it’s just that musically more often than not you get that nauseating feeling that these tracks could have easily fitted into the latest Bryan Adams album. Matthew Ryan will doubtlessly be taken to the hearts of plenty of people, but equally his brand of gentle rock/acoustic twangery and alt country lite will be - for some - the musical equivalent of your mum serving you cold curried sprouts on Boxing Day morning.