If you are looking for a happy, light hearted disc to get you dancing at your latest cocktail party, or some invigorating anthems to listen to on your iPod, (while you’re trying to fight through those last few reps at the gym) then you will be quite disappointed by the latest release from Matthew Good.
Hospital Music is a dark, disturbing album that will have you questioning your own sanity. This is arguably one of the most honest, and heartfelt albums of the year, released by one of the best singer/songwriters in Canada today. Matthew Good had a full year of heartache and sadness to write about in a year in which he got divorced from his wife, overdosed on prescription drugs, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Good is successful in every song at allowing the listener into his year from hell without making the CD so depressing that is difficult to listen to. This is the most personal album Good has ever put out and it truly pays off.
The album has the radio hits we have come to expect from Good like the first single Born Losers which contrasts his dark lyrics with an upbeat folk rock melody, and Metal Airplanes which is a catchy acoustic piece written on a plane ride home after a horrible mania episode in Europe.
The most intimate and lyrically direct song on the album is She is in it for the Money which is obviously about the bitter divorce he went through. This is the bravest song on the album which will make any single man quickly question the intelligence of marriage. You can hear the pain in his voice and this pain is complimented with lyrics like I’m in love with your pills I tried to get rid of myself. There is also the most poignant cover of the Dead Kennedys’ Moon Over Marin which fits in so nicely with the overall feeling of the album that it is difficult to believe Good wasn’t one of the Dead Kennedys’ founding members.
Hospital Music however does not solely rely on just its intense lyrical content to be effective. It also displays Good’s amazing musicianship and distinctive voice by having him performing almost completely solo on the album; which is fitting for an album based on loneliness. All around this is an impressive effort from Good and by far his most mature to date.
I definitely recommend purchasing Hospital Music for your own personal collection but I only recommend listening to it at those quiet moments when you are undisturbed and able to enjoy an album in its entirety. This is not a CD to listen to in parts and is definitely not a disc to be playing at your best friend’s engagement party but it is undeniably one of the finest releases so far this year.
