Unsigned (label)
20 February 2009 (released)
23 January 2009
It might be worth noting, long before you plug into this record, into the words, songs, and voice of Rubek -the music of singer songwriter Matthew Burke - that the raw wiring of this remarkable debut, and the undernourished delivery of these big songs, has the warm ability to swallow you whole.
Tender Hooks is exactly what it says on the tin, in the guise of subtle country-cut pop. It is mainstreamed quite cleverly by it’s slickness and the choppy arrangements of songs like 'Brightest Star’ and 'Reasonable Man’ or to better effect, the rolling 'Losing Sleep’ which poses just like a pre-Jack White Brendan Benson for all of it’s bubblegum bite, or maybe a chirpy Lloyd Cole, should such a thing exist. There are moments when this record plays like a sort of homage to past musical heroes, maybe Mr. Burke’s own pop champions, not in its themes, but more for its baggy reflection’s of jangling guitar monsters like The Byrds, or possibly their shoe-gazing indie contemporaries in Teenage Fanclub, or maybe just an undercooked Big Star.
Overall, Tender Hooks reveals itself as a very personal plea from a new and gifted songwriter, and despite the sheer cheer for all of Burke’s pop ambitions in the shape of 'My Best Plans’ or 'Another Dream’, songs that aspire to be the record’s true centrefolds, it’s in the belly of whispering ballads like the bold yet bare 'Hold A Smile’, the chilling 'God Help Me Out Here’ or the album’s real 'brightest star' that is 'Work It Out’ that Burke’s real vision and glories spill free.
Go To: www.myspace.com/rubek
